Nail-biting wait as results draw closer

Tension prevails among leaders in political circles with just three days left for the announcement of results of the 17th Lok Sabha elections that were held on April 11.

Key elements such as performances of the governments and political parties both in the state and at the Centre, the newly-introduced VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) system may decide the fates of the candidates.

Karimnagar Lok Sabha Constituency is reserved for the general category. It comprises seven Assembly constituencies — Karimnagar, Sircilla, Huzurabad, Husnabad, Vemulawada, Choppadandi and Manakondur.

Peddapalli Lok Sabha constituency, which is reserved for the SC category, is spread over two districts — Peddapalli and Mancherial — after the reorganisation of districts. It comprises seven Assembly constituencies — Peddapalli, Ramagundam, Manthani, Dharmapuri, Chennur, Bellampalli and Mancherial.

Boinapalli Vinod Kumar from the TRS, Ponnam Prabhakar from the Congress and Bandi Sanjay Kumar from the BJP along with 12 others, contested for the Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat. B. Venkatesh Netha from the TRS, Dr A. Chandrashekar from the Congress and S. Kumar from the BJP along with

14 others contested for the Peddapalli Parliament segment.

A total of 11,46,467 voters exercised their franchises and a poll percentage of 69.40 was recorded in Karimnagar Lok Sabha Constituency. In Peddapalli, 9,58,686 votes were polled and the voting percentage was recorded as 65.22 per cent.

Karimnagar district is one of the strongholds of the Congress. So far the Congress won the seat

10times out of the 16 previous elections. Considering winning the 17th Lok Sabha elections as a prestigious matter and with the intention of making party chief Rahul Gandhi the next Prime Minister of India, the Congress leadership strove hard for a grand victory in Karimnagar and Peddapalli Parliament segments.

The ruling TRS, after registering a massive win in the recently held Assembly and local body elections, is confident of retaining the two seats.

The BJP, which gained momentum recently in the district expects that the “Modi wave” will make an impact.