NDA candidate Rajendra Prasad wins Krishna-Guntur graduates’ constituency in Andhra Pradesh

Rajendra Prasad won Krishna-Guntur graduates' seat by a majority of 82,320 votes against his nearest rival K S Lakshmana Rao of Progressive Democratic Front (PDF)

Amaravati: The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Andhra Pradesh has bagged a Legislative Council seat from the Krishna-Guntur graduates’ constituency while the candidate backed by it was leading in East-West Godavari graduates’ constituency.

Telugu Desam Party’s senior leader Alapati Rajendra Prasad was declared elected from the Krishna-Guntur graduates’ constituency on Tuesday while P Rajashekaram was leading in the other constituency.

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Earlier, Gade Srinivasulu Naidu of Progressive Recognised Teachers’ Union (PRTU) was declared the winner from the North Coastal Andhra Pradesh teachers’ constituency. Elections to three MLC seats were held on February 27 while the counting of votes was taken up on Monday.

Rajendra Prasad won Krishna-Guntur graduates’ seat by a majority of 82,320 votes against his nearest rival K S Lakshmana Rao of Progressive Democratic Front (PDF).

Rajendra Prasad, a former MLA of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) who was supported by its allies Jana Sena and BJP, secured 1,45,057 votes while Lakshmana Rao polled 62,737 votes at the end of the ninth and final round of counting of the first preference votes on Tuesday.

Out of 3,47,116 votes in the constituency, 2,41,500 voters cast their votes in the election held on February 27. More than 25,000 votes were declared invalid. This was the third-highest number after the votes polled by the winner and runners-up. A total of 25 candidates were in the fray in this constituency but the main contest was between Rajendra Prasad and Lakshmana Rao.

Meanwhile, NDA-supported P Rajashekaram was leading in East-West Godavari graduates’ constituency. He had a majority of 60,677 votes at the end of the sixth round of counting over his nearest rival Veera Raghavulu of PDF. Two more rounds of counting were remaining.

A total of 35 candidates were in the fray in the East-West Godavari graduates’ constituency. Out of 3,14,984 graduates who were eligible to cast their votes, 2,18,902 exercised their franchise. At the end of the sixth round, 1.68 lakh votes were counted and of them, 14,818 votes were declared invalid.

Earlier, Gade Srinivasulu Naidu of Progressive Recognised Teachers’ Union (PRTU) was elected to the Council from Srikakulam-Vizianagaram-Visakhapatnam teachers’ constituency.

He defeated his nearest rival Pakalapati Raghu Varma of Andhra Pradesh Teachers’ Federation (APTF), who was supported by the ruling NDA. Srinivasulu Naidu secured 12,035 votes while his nearest competitor polled 8,527 votes. Naidu has won this seat for the third time. He was earlier elected in 2007 and 2014.