The just concluded Rajya Sabha elections in Telangana have clearly showed the blatant partiality shown by the Election Commission of India towards ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi.
During the counting of votes, the EC authorities endorsed the cross-voting of the defected Congress MLAs in favour of the TRS candidates, while refused to endorse a similar voting by an independent MLA in favour of the Congress party.
Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president Capt N Uttam Kumar Reddy told the media that all the seven MLAs - Kale Yadaiah, Redya Naik, Bhaskar Rao, Ch Rammohan Reddy, Koram Kanakaiah, Vithal Reddy and Ajay Kumar had voted in favour of TRS candidates in violation of the whip.
“The defected MLAs showed their voting slips brazenly to Congress polling agent Kantha Rao, saying that they voted for the TRS. Kantha Rao immediately lodged a written complaint with Returning Officer and Legislature Secretary V Narasimha Charyulu asking him to reject those seven votes. However, the Returning Officer did not give acknowledgement for the complaint lodged by the Congress,” he alleged.
On the other hand, independent MLA D Madhava Reddy voted for the Congress party, but the Election Commission authorities declared his vote as invalid as he had showed his vote to the Congress agent Kantha Rao.
The Congress party demanded the disqualification of seven MLAs who violated the party whip and voted in favour of ruling TRS candidates in the Rajya Sabha elections.
