Presidential poll: Barring 4, all MLAs in Telugu states cast votes

Hyderabad/Amaravati: Two MLAs each in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh stayed away from polling on Monday in the election for the 16th President of India.

Out of 119 MLAs in Telangana, 117 cast their votes while in Andhra Pradesh 173 out of 175 exercised their franchise.

Telangana’s Minister for Civil Supplies Gangula Kamalakar, who is down with Covid-19, could not cast his vote. Chinnamaneni Ramesh, another MLA of ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) was travelling abroad.

In Andhra Pradesh, actor Balakrishna and Butchaiah Chowdary, both belonging to Telugu Desam Party (TDP), stayed away from polling. Both were on a foreign trip.

One MLA of Andhra Pradesh cast his vote in Telangana Assembly with the permission of the Election Commission of India.

Poll officials said majority of votes were polled in the first 3-4 hours.

The polling, which began at 10 a.m., ended at 5 p.m.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was the first to cast his vote at Assembly building in Amaravati while in Hyderabad, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) working president and state minister K.T. Rama Rao polled the first vote.

KTR along with other ministers and TRS MLAs reached Assembly building in buses from party headquarters Telangana Bhavan.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao cast his vote around afternoon soon after his arrival in Hyderabad from Hanamkonda.

One of the Congress MLAs in Telangana demanded another ballot paper to cast her vote but poll officials rejected her request. Following reports that Seethakka polled her vote to NDA candidate Darupadi Murmu, she clarified that she voted as per the direction of her party. She said she wanted another ballot paper as the one issued to her had some ink mark.

In Amaravati, TDP national president and former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu reached Assembly along with his party MLAs to cast their votes.

Barring three MLAs of BJP, all members in Telangana are believed to have cast their votes for Yashwant Sinha, the joint candidate of opposition parties.

The ruling TRS, its friendly party Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) and opposition Congress party had declared support for Sinha.

The TRS has 103 MLAs in Telangana. MIM’s tally is seven while Congress has six members.

In Andhra Pradesh, all votes are likely to go to NDA candidate Darupadi Murmu. Both the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had announced their support for Murmu.

YSRCP has 151 members in the 175-member Assembly. Four MLAs of TDP and the lone member of actor politician Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena who switched loyalties to YSRCP also extender support to the NDA candidate.

All the MPs of TRS, MIM, Congress, BJP, YSRCP and TDP cast their votes in Parliament.

After the completion of the polling, ballot boxes were sealed and kept in strong rooms. They will be later transported to the national capital Delhi.