72.44 per cent polling in Telangana MLC by-election

Hyderabad: The final voter turnout in Monday's by-election to the Telangana Legislative Council from the Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda graduates' constituency was 72.44 per cent, election officials said on Tuesday.

Out of 4,63,839 voters, 3,36,013 cast their votes in the constituency spread over 34 Assembly segments in 12 districts.

Among the districts, Yadadri Bhongir recorded the highest polling at 78.59 per cent. The lowest, at 67.62 per cent, was in Khammam district.

According to poll officials, 68.65 per cent of voters cast their votes by 4 p.m., when the polling came to an end. However, those standing in queues were allowed to cast their votes.

The Election Commission had set up 605 polling centres with the highest (118) in the Khammam district.

A total of 52 candidates were in the fray for the by-election but the main contest was among the Congress, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates.

The vacancy arose after Palla Rajeshwar Reddy of the BRS resigned following his election to the Assembly from the Jangaon constituency in the November 2023 polls. He was elected as MLC in the election held in 2021.

The ruling Congress, which has 33 out of the 34 MLAs in the graduates' constituency, fielded Chintapandu Teenmaar Mallanna, who had contested as an independent and finished second in the 2021 election. He is locked in a three-cornered contest with Rakesh Reddy of the BRS and G. Permender Reddy of the BJP.

Counting of votes will be taken up on June 5, a day after counting of votes polled in Lok Sabha elections.