TRS ahead after four rounds in Munugode by-election humdinger

MUNUGODE: The high-octane fight for the Munugode Assembly seat, which was witnessed during the campaigning phase for the by-election, also continued during the counting of votes, at least in the first few rounds, on Sunday. The overall lead kept swinging from one side to the other between the two main contenders, the TRS and the BJP. At the end of four rounds, the TRS was ahead by a margin of 714 votes, as per the figures released by the State Election Commission.

The TRS drew the first blood by achieving a four-vote lead in the postal ballots, which was taken up first as part of the vote-counting. While the Telangana ruling party received 228 votes, BJP was closely behind with 224 votes with the BSP (12 votes) and independents sharing the rest.

The TRS showed the same form when the EVMs were opened by amassing a strong lead of close to 1500 votes in the first round. The first four rounds of votes belonged to the Choutuppal mandal, traditionally considered a BJP stronghold. The mandal has a majority urban vote that is known to tilt towards the BJP. But the TRS gaining an impressive lead in the first round has stung the BJP a bit.

There was a swing in the second round where the BJP had bounced back and secured a 750-odd vote lead, thus reducing the overall lead of the TRS to about 515 votes. The trend continued on similar lines in the third round as well with the BJP ending in lead. Though shrunk, the TRS continued to hold on to a 35-vote overall lead.

The fourth round, despite a close fight, eventually went to the TRS. By the end of the fourth round, TRS candidate Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy was ahead with a 714-vote lead. As per official figures, he garnered a total of 26,343 votes while his nearest rival Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy of the BJP received 25,730 votes. Palvai Shravanti, the Congress nominee managed to get 8,200 votes while BSP's Andoju Shankar polled 907 votes.