NALGONDA: In a fiercely fought battle, Congress candidate Chintapandu Naveen alias Teenmar Mallanna was elected as an MLC from Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda Graduates constituency. As no candidate crossed the magic figure, the officials declared Mallanna as elected as he got the highest number of votes among all the contestants. The counting which began for the seat at 9 am on Tuesday concluded at 9 pm on Friday.
As no candidate, out of 52 contestants, got a majority in the first or second preference votes, the officials on Friday started elimination process of the candidates by adding their second preference votes to other candidates. After elimination of the candidates, Mallanna of the Congress, A Rakesh Reddy of the BRS and Gujjula Premender Reddy of the BJP were left in the fray. Then, the officials eliminated Premender Reddy and transferred his second preference votes to the Congress and BRS candidates. Even then, no one got required votes. Finally, the officials eliminated the BRS candidate and declared Mallanna, who got the highest number of votes, elected.
Out of the total 3,36,013 votes polled, 25,824 were found invalid. The required votes for the victory after the first preference votes were 1,55,095.
Though the counting started on May 5, the counting of second preference votes commenced at 9 pm on May 6. The elimination process started on Friday. Teenmar Mallanna contested as an MLC twice from the segment. He lost to BRS leader Palla Rajeshwar Reddy. The bypoll for the segment was necessitated following the resignation of Rajeshwar Reddy, who was elected as an MLA in 2023 Assembly elections on the BRS ticket. Mallanna also contested unsuccessfully in Huzurnagar Assembly bypoll in 2019, after the resignation of sitting MLA N Uttam Kumar Reddy following his election to the Lok Sabha.