Polling for Presidential elections being held smoothly, Congress MLA casts vote for BJP candidate ‘by mistake’

Hyderabad: The voting for the Presidential elections is being held smoothly at the Telangana State Legislative Assembly buildings here on Monday. The polling which commenced at 10 am, will conclude at 5 pm. The TRS and the Congress party are supporting the Opposition parties’ candidate Yashwant Sinha, while the BJP and its allies are supporting […]

Hyderabad: The voting for the Presidential elections is being held smoothly at the Telangana State Legislative Assembly buildings here on Monday. The polling which commenced at 10 am, will conclude at 5 pm. The TRS and the Congress party are supporting the Opposition parties’ candidate Yashwant Sinha, while the BJP and its allies are supporting Droupadi Murmu. The results will be announced on July 21.

A total of 116 MLAs including Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao along with Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and State Cabinet Ministers utilised their voting rights. Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar, Vemulawada MLA Ch Ramesh and Congress MLA T Jagga Reddy are yet to cast their votes. IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao was the first elected representative from Telangana to cast his vote.

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Meanwhile, Congress MLA Danasari Anasuya alias Seethakka had allegedly cast her vote to NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu. Soon after marking her vote on the ballot paper, she realised her mistake and approached the Election Returning Officer for another ballot paper. However, the election authorities rejected her plea citing electoral norms and assured to take up her issue with the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Later, Seethakka told mediapersons that a thick marker was given to her to mark the candidate of her choice. “But, the marker slipped from my hand due to its thickness and a marking was made mistakenly on the ballot paper. Fearing that it could be considered as invalid, I sought another ballot paper. But when the officials refused, I cast my voting using the same ballot paper,” she said, adding that she was not a covert to poll her vote against the directions of the party high command.