Eluru: In the East and West Godavari district graduate constituency MLC elections, coalition candidate Perabathula Rajasekharam was elected as MLC by securing more than the required quota of votes.

The counting of votes for this election was conducted at Sir CR Reddy Engineering College here on Monday and Tuesday in the presence of election observers Sridhar, Returning Officer, Eluru district collector K Vetri Selvi, joint collector P Dhatri Reddy, District SP KPS Kishore and the candidates and their agents.

The counting of votes, which began at 8 am on Monday on 28 tables, was completed at 1.30 pm on Tuesday. Out of the total 2,18,997 votes cast in this election, 19,789 were invalid votes and out of the remaining 1,99,208 valid votes, Perabathula Rajasekharam got 1,24,702 votes. PDF candidate Didla Veera Raghavulu who contested in this election got 47,241 votes and GV Sundar got 16,183 votes. Perabathula Rajasekharam won with 1,24,702 votes in a total of eight rounds.

With Rajasekharam securing 1,24,702 votes in the first counting itself, with the approval of the Election Commission, the Returning Officer and Eluru District Collector Vetri Selvi declared the coalition candidate Perabathula Rajasekharam elected as MLC and handed over the certificate.

Additional SP N Suryachandra Rao and DSP Shravan Kumar effectively supervised the security arrangements to ensure that the counting process proceeded smoothly and in a peaceful atmosphere.

Perabathula Rajasekharam received 16,520 votes in the first round, 16,212 in the second round, 16,191 in the third round, 15,482 in the fourth round, 15,632 in the fifth round, 16,254 in the sixth round, 16,040 in the seventh round, and 12,371 in the eighth round.

Didla Veera Raghavulu received 5,815 votes in the first round, 5,421 in the second round, 5,570 in the third round, 6,446 in the fourth round, 6,413 in the fifth round, 5,949 in the sixth round, 5,654 in the seventh round, and 5,973 in the eighth round.

GV Sundar received 1,968 votes in the first round, 2,238 in the second round, 2,119 in the third round, 2,484 in the fourth round, 2,208 in the fifth round, 1,741 in the sixth round, 2,106 in the seventh round, and 1,319 in the eighth round.