AP council polls: TRS gets a jolt

As many as 31 candidates from Congress, Telugu Desam, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India-Marxist, Telangana Rashtra Samithi and Majlis-e-Ittehaadul Muslimeen were declared elected to the Andhra Pradesh legislative council late on Thursday night.

The winners included 20 from the Congress, five from the Telugu Desam, two from CPI, one each from CPI-M, MIM and TRS and an Independent candidate supported by TRS rebels.

An official candidate of TRS was the lone loser in the elections held for the 31 seats from the legislators' quota in the 90-member legislative council.

There has heavy cross-voting within the TRS camp, resulting in the defeat of one of the two TRS candidates. One of these candidates polled 14 votes as against the required 14 while an Independent candidate K Gyaneshwar supported by TRS rebels polled 12 votes.

The losing TRS candidate M Sudhershan Rao polled only three votes and was eliminated from the race.

The Telugu Desam, which has necessitated the poll by fielding an additional candidate, pulled off an unexpected victory with all its five candidates getting through. The Congress also managed to get all its 20 candidates elected, besides ensuring the victory of two CPI nominees and one MIM candidate supported by it.

The BJP, which has two members in the assembly, supported the official TRS nominees. The lone Bahujan Samaj Party member, as well as two Janata Party legislators and a Samajwadi Party legislator, supported the Congress in these elections held on Thursday.

The lone Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist Gummadi Narsaiah stayed away from the polling. Rebel TRS legislators, against whom the TRS has filed a petition before the assembly speaker for seeking their disqualification for supporting an Independent candidate, managed to vote in the council polls as the Speaker's decision was pending.