Khammam tense as BRS, CPI (M) protest at Edulapuram counting centre

Tension gripped Khammam after BRS and CPI (M) cadres staged a protest at the Edulapuram counting centre, accusing election officials of bias for refusing recount requests in wards where BRS candidates lost by narrow margins of five and eight votes.

Khammam: BRS and CPI (M) cadres staged a protest at the Edulapuram counting centre against the unilateral attitude of election officials for refusing a BRS candidate’s request for recounting.

The BRS candidate contesting for the 1st ward was declared defeated by a margin of five votes by the nearest Congress party candidate.

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Similarly, in the 18th ward, the BRS candidate was defeated by the Congress candidate by a narrow majority of eight votes. The defeated BRS candidates repeatedly appealed to the officials to recount the ballot papers saying that they had lost by a narrow majority. However, the officials did not pay attention to their request, the counting agents lamented.

After they were sent out, the BRS and CPI (M) workers, who came to know about the matter, reached the counting centre in large numbers and staged a protest for about an hour. As the Congress party workers also reached the same place in large numbers, a tense atmosphere prevailed; the police officials intervened and brought the situation under control.

The BRS agents noted that the election officials who refused their request for recounting had earlier allowed recounting at the request of a Congress candidate who was defeated by an independent candidate by a majority of 17 votes. The independent candidate won the ward with the same majority.