Polling for Legislative Council ends

Hyderabad, Mar 22 (UNI) Polling for the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council election under MLAs quota ended here this evening, with all 294 MLAs exercising their franchise at the state Assembly.

Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu were among the leaders who cast their votes in the election, which lasted from 0800 hrs to 1600 hrs.

However, the TDP had asked the Returning Officer not to consider the vote cast by Tanuku MLA CH Bapinidu.

Speaking to newspersons here, TDP senior leader and former Minister N Janardhan Reddy said the Congress MLA had ''intentionally'' torn the ballot paper after casting his vote and asked the polling officer for another ballot to exercise his vote.

Alleging that the Congress MLA had resorted to malpractices in casting his vote, the TDP leader said the rules did not permit voting for second time. The TDP and the Telangana Rastra Samithi (TRS) had objected against the Congress MLA voting for the second time.

Stating that the second ballot paper used by Mr Bapinidu was kept separately, he said the TDP would not allow the Returning Officer to consider the MLA's vote in the counting.

Lone BSP MLA L Raja Rao, who had yesterday announced that he would not cast his vote in the election, had exercised his franchise.

Thirty two candidates were in the fray in the elections. The Congress fielded 21 candidates, TDP five, TRS two, CPI two, AIMIM and CPM fielded one candidate each, besides one Independent.

UNI