TDP leaders and supporters celebrating the party nominee Vepada Chiranjeevi Rao’s lead over his YSRCP rival, in the Graduates Constituency election, in Visakhapatnam, on March 17.
| Photo Credit: V. Raju
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) candidate Vepada Chiranjeevi Rao is leading over his nearest rival Seethamraju Sudhakar of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) with a margin of more than 20,000 votes at the end of the fifth round in the North Andhra Graduates Constituency elections to the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council at the Swarna Bharathi Indoor stadium, in Visakhapatnam, on March 17. The counting of the first preference votes, which began on Thursday evening. It continued through the night.
The TDP leaders and supporters have already started celebrations with rallies outside the indoor stadium. However, those familiar with the counting process for the Legislative Council elections feel that it is too early to say anything.
This is because to win in the election, the TDP candidate has to get half of the total valid votes polled plus one vote. If he gets less than that number, the counting for the second preference votes polled would be begin to decide the winner.
At the end of the fifth round, the TDP candidate polled 58,960 while his nearest YSRCP rival secured 38,648 votes. The Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) nominee Koredla Ramaprabha secured 23,681 voters, while the BJP candidate PVN Madhav got 7,565 votes.
The total number of graduate voters in the six districts of North Andhra is 2,89,214, including 1,27,526 men, 73,162 women and two transgenders. Of them 2,00,926 had exercised their franchise in the election held on March 13. The TDP has maintained his lead over his YSRC rival since the first round.