Andhra Pradesh - Nellore   

Cross-voting by Congress leaders helps its rebel win

Staff Reporter

Raghavendra Reddy gets support from TDP, CPI(M) and BJP

NELLORE: In a major setback to the ruling party, Congress rebel-turned independent candidate Bommireddy Raghavendra Reddy has defeated Congress nominee C.V. Sesha Reddy by 47-vote margin in the elections to the Local Authorities' Constituency of the revived Legislative Council. Despite numerical strength, the Congress nominee lost the seat to the independent candidate, who was backed by both the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Communist Party of India (Marxist). Cross voting by 62 ruling party elected representatives besides support from most of the Independents as well as members belonging to the BJP helped Mr. Raghavendra Reddy scrape through. Congress nominee Sesha Reddy got 367 votes while the Independent candidate managed to get 414 votes. Meanwhile, the Congress nominee described the cross voting as shameful. "It is very sad that a significant number of elected representatives belonging to the Congress committed this disgraceful act for petty political gains. I will bring this to the notice of the party high command and lodge complaint against those who betrayed him and the party," he told reporters. Sesha Reddy told reporters on Friday.

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Cross-voting by Congress leaders helps its rebel win

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