TRS leads by 1,70,313 votes at the end of 7th round of counting in Warangal by-polls

Warangal: TRS was leading by 1,70,313 votes at the end of 7th round of counting of the Warangal by-poll.

The by-poll held on November 21 had witnessed a voter turn-out of 68.59 per cent. Postal ballots were counted first. Counting in each round takes about 10 minutes and the total counting would be completed in 16 rounds.

The counting is being done at the Enumamula market yard. Seven hall have been set up to carry out the exercise from 8 AM. The counting of postal ballots has been taken up first. Section 144 of CrPC has been imposed at the venue to as a precautionary measure.

Pre-poll surveys indicated a tight contest between the Congress and the TRS. A win for the pink party will help it scotch speculations that an environment of discontent against the government was building up in the state. A defeat for it would be a big blow.

class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">TRS is hoping to win the seat with a 2 lakh majority. Some constituencies which were expected to back the Congress have witnessed a different trend, which has dimmed its hopes of a victory. Nothing went right with the BJP-TDP combine. It took time for both the parties to settle the candidate issue and it also turned out that some TDP men were unhappy with the ticket being given to an NRI.

Twenty-three candidates were in the fray. The main contest is considered to be between P Dayakar of the ruling TRS, main opposition Congress nominee and former Union Minister Sarve Satyanarayana and BJP candidate P Devaiah on behalf of the BJP-TDP combine. YSRCP's N Suryaprakash and a Left-backed candidate are also part of the electoral battle.

The by-poll was necessitated following the resignation of sitting TRS MP K Srihari after he became Telangana Deputy Chief Minister.