The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : CLP gears up for Presidential poll

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Wednesday, Jul 18, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

CLP gears up for Presidential poll

Special correspondent

MLAs, MPs educated on voting system

HYDERABAD: As the election of Presidential candidate is set to be a one-sided affair, the Congress leadership has started educating its MLAs and MPs on the finer points of voting system to ensure that the votes did not become invalid.

A special meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) convened on Tuesday to discuss the issue barely lasted one hour and the thrust was entirely on ensuring 100 per cent voting for UPA nominee Pratibha Patil. Poll observers deputed by All India Congress Committee, Luzhinho Faliero and Suresh had the task cut in asking CLP members how to cast their single transferable vote.

The MLAs, who were given sufficient training on how to cast votes by marking preferences in the recent elections to the reconstituted State Legislative Council, did not had any problem in understanding what the observers told them.

After initial speeches by Chief Minister, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and PCC president, K. Keshava Rao, the two observers detailed rules and regulations and asked MLAs not to forget giving their first preferential vote to the UPA candidate. Though they did not have voting right, the MLCs too attended the meeting having been invited.

There was an apprehension initially that dissident Congress MLAs P. Janardhan Reddy and M. Shashidhar Reddy might attempt to queer the pitch for the Chief Minister, but, it was not to be. Both of them just kept to themselves at the meeting, it was learnt. The PCC president was asked to continue his efforts in ensuring the support of UPA allies including the TRS and the AI MIM who, till date, had not announced support to Ms. Patil’s candidature.

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