All the former legislators, who had resigned in support of a separate Telangana state, are set to retain their seats in the byelections held to the 12 Assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh on July 27.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), which is spearheading the movement for a separate statehood, has already won 7 of the 11 seats it contested and its candidates are heading in the remaining four constituencies as the counting of votes continued on Friday.
Lone Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Y Lakshmi Narayana also retained the Nizamabad Assembly segment by defeating state Congress president, D Srinivas, with a margin of 12,600 votes.
TRS candidate in Siddipet T Harish Rao, nephew of party president K Chandrasekhar Rao, won with a record margin of over 95,858 votes. Both Telugu Desam Party and Congress candidates, who contested against Rao have lost their deposits.
Besides Rao, TRS candidates have won in Warangal West, Dharmapuri, Vemulawada, Chennur, Mancherial and Sirpur constituencies with impressive margins giving a boost to the party, which had received a setback in the 2009 general elections.
In five constituencies, ballot papers, instead of electronic voting machines, were used for polling as there were a large number of contestants in the fray. Consequently, counting of votes in these constituencies was time-consuming and the declaration of results was delayed.
However, even before the first round of counting was over, it became clear that it was a one-sided contest in majority of the constituencies and the people's verdict was in favour of those who relinquished their Assembly seats.
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"We respect the people's verdict," chief minister, K Rosaiah, said.
Industrialist and Congress MP Lagadapati Rajagopal, whose survey report predicted the victories of TRS and BJP candidates, said the verdict indicated people's "commitment" to re-elect all those who had resigned from the Legislative Assembly.