Vijayawada: TD MLAs Kadiri Babu Rao and Jitender Goud cast their votes wrongly for the Presidential elections on Monday. Instead of writing the numeric 1 alongside NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind’s name, they put their signatures, thus drawing the ire of party president and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. All MLAs cast their vote. Mr Naidu, Leader of Opposition Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and other MLAs cast their votes without incident. Minister C. Adinarayana Reddy cast his vote quite late as a car in his convoy met with an accident in Nalgonda district.
The Nandyal seat is vacant due to the demise of Bhuma Nagi Reddy; all MLAs from the other 174 constituencies participated in the polling. By 1 pm, all had cast their votes except four MLAs, YSRC MLAs Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy, Peddireddy Rama Chandra Reddy and Mekapati Gowtham Reddy voted after 1 pm. Returning officer Satyan-arayana confirmed 100 per cent polling in Amaravati and said all 174 MLAs and Narasaraopet MP Rayapati Sambasiva Rao had utilised their right to vote in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly. The voting process concluded at 5 pm.
Mr Chandrababu Naidu said it was embarassing to see Kandukuru MLA Kadiri Babu Rao and Gooty MLA Jitender Goud making an error even after the mock voting. They exchanged no-tes with their colleagues after signing, got to know of the error and re-quested the returning officer to give them a chance to rectify it. The request was declined. Later, this was taken to the notice of the CM.
Mr Chandrababu Naidu and Assembly Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao were among the first to cast votes. This is the first time polling for presidential election is being held in Amaravti. The TD has 124 members, including 21 who defected from the YSRC. The BJP has four legislators. The Opposition YSRC has 46 legislators. Every legislator in Andhra Pradesh has a vote value of 159. All the ballots will now be sent to Delhi, where counting will take place on Thursday.
