TRS candidate M. Bhupal Reddy was leading by over 38,000 votes at the end of 14th round of counting, Election Commission officials said. Sanjeeva Reddy of Congress was second and Telugu Desam party’s Vijayapal Reddy was at third place
There will be total 21 rounds of counting and the result is expected by noon.
In the by-election held on Saturday, 81.72 percent of 1.88 lakh voters had cast their votes.
The by-election was necessitated due to the death of sitting Congress legislator P. Kishta Reddy in August 2015.
The Congress party, which fielded Kishta Reddy’s son Sanjeeva Reddy, is banking on sympathy wave while TRS, buoyed by a series of electoral victories, is looking to wrest the Congress stronghold.
TRS never won this assembly seat, while TDP could win it only once in 1994.
In 2014 elections, Congress party’s Kishta Reddy was elected with a majority of 14,746 votes over Bhupal Reddy of TRS. The Congress candidate had polled 62,347 votes while Bhupal Reddy secured 47,601 votes. Vijayapal Reddy of TDP was at third place with 40,405 votes.
TRS fielded its candidate in the by-election, ignoring the appeal by the Congress to all the parties to respect the convention of not fielding candidates in the by-elections caused by the death of sitting legislators.
