Counting began for Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council Teachers' Constituencies of Guntur and Krishna, and East and West Godavri at 8 a.m. on Wednesday. Telugu Desam Party supported candidate A.S. Ramakrishna, was leading by 1,950 First Preference votes against nearest rival K.S. Lakshman Rao, backed by United Teachers Federation (UTF) at 1.30 p.m. While A.S. Ramakrishna got 6,987 votes, Mr. K.S. Lakshman Rao got 5,037 votes.
UTF candidate leading
The counting of votes for East and West Godavari Teachers’ Constituency of the Council commenced at Rangaraya Medical College at Kakinada on Wednesday. In the first round of counting, Ramu Surya Rao, a candidate supported by the United Teachers Federation (UTF) was in the lead.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) fielded sitting MLC and Government Whip K.V.V. Satyanarayana Raju by giving him the Form B, while the party’s rebel candidate Paruchuri Krishna Rao too was in the poll fray. Of the 21,551 teacher voters in both the Godavari districts, 17,487 teachers exercised their franchise during the election that was held on Sunday.
Both Mr. Raju and Mr. Rao are owners of corporate educational institutions. Though there are 15 candidates in the poll arena, the contest is expected to be among the three candidates – Mr. Surya Rao, Mr. Raju and Mr. Krishna Rao.
