AP: Congress wins 3 Rajya Sabha seats, TDP 2, TRS 1

Hyderabad: Congress on Saturday bagged three seats while TDP and TRS won two and one seat respectively, in the Rajya Sabha elections from Andhra Pradesh.

TRS made its maiden foray into the Upper House with its nominee K. Keshav Rao winning with the support of four CPI MLAs and apparent backing of some Congress members from the Telangana region, though TRS's strenth in the Assembly is only 17.

The other victorious candidates are K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao, T. Subbarami Reddy and M.A. Khan (all Congress), T. Seetarama Lakshmi and G. Mohan Rao (both TDP). Their election was a mere formality after the rebel Congress candidate Aadala Prabhakar Reddy announced his withdrawal from the contest on Thursday.

Prabhakar Reddy had entered the fray on the plank of 'Samaikyandhra' (united Andhra Pradesh), but pulled out saying his (possible) defeat may send a signal that the united Andhra clause had lost steam. He, however, continued to be in the fray technically as the last date for withdrawal of nominations was January 31.

Keshav Rao, who has served as state Congress president, managed to win as a section of Telangana Congress MLAs are understood to have transferred their surplus votes to him. The polling was held from 9 AM to 4 PM and the counting of votes was taken up at 5 PM.

Congress MLA Daggubati Venkateswara Rao, husband of Union Minister D Purandeswari, exercised the 'None Of The Above' (NOTA) option, provided for the first time in the Rajya Sabha elections in AP.