Telangana: 98 per cent polling in MLC elections

HYDERABAD: Over 98 per cent turnout was registered in elections to three Member of Legislative Council (MLC) under local authority constituencies of Ranga Reddy, Warnagal and Nalgonda polling held on Friday. Members of Zilla Parishad, Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies and ward members, who reached to the designated polling stations from the 'camps' organized by the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Congress parties to protect their members. Counting of votes will be taken up by the election authorities on June 3.
According to Election Commission of India, while over 98 per cent of polling registered in Ranga Reddy and Nalgonda Local Authority Constituencies, over 97 per cent in Warangal district. Of total 2,794 electorate, 2,753 people have cast their votes.
These elections were necessitated due to the resignation of three MLCs - Patnam Narender Reddy (Ranga Reddy), Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy (Nalgonda) and Konda Muralidhar. Both Narender Reddy and Rajgopal Reddy resigned and elected as MLAs in the recently held assembly elections.
TRS and Congress parties have fielded Patnam Mahender Reddy and Kommuri Pratap Reddy respectively from Ranga Reddy district, Pochampally Srinivas Reddy and E Venkatram Reddy respectively from Warangal and Tera Chinappa Reddy and Komatireddy Laxmi respectively from Nalgonda constituency.
The parties shifted the local body elected members to camps to holiday spots such as Bangalore, Shirdi and other places as both the parties were keen on winning the seat. The other reason being many of ZPTC and MPTC from Congress party joined TRS.
Meanwhile, K Naveen Rao, TRS nominee from MLC seat under MLA quota has been elected unopposed as there were no nominations from other parties. Assembly secretary and returning officer Narasimha Charyulu handed over certificate of election to Naveen Rao on Friday. Later Naveen Rao met chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and thanked him for giving him an opportunity as an MLC.