The ballot papers are large, and it took considerable time to unfold and verify each one. The staff also have to cross-check each ballot with the list of 56 candidates.
Published Mar 05, 2025 | 2:31 PM ⚊ Updated Mar 05, 2025 | 2:31 PM
The large number of invalid votes has raised questions over the awareness of the voters. (Representational photoc/iStock)
Synopsis: The huge number of invalid votes has made many doubt the awareness of graduates. Declaring votes invalid takes time due to the size of the ballot paper, and objections raised by polling agents.
An influx of invalid votes has delayed counting in Telangana’s Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Adilabad, and Medak graduates’ constituency.
The counting of votes that began on 3 March continued on Wednesday, 5 March.
About 28,686 invalid votes were cast in this election. This figure is particularly surprising given that the voters are graduates, expected to be more informed than illiterate voters.
Of the total 2,52,029 votes cast, only 2,23,343 were declared valid. To win the election, a candidate must secure a simple majority in the first preference votes.
The winning quota is 1,11,672 votes, which is one vote more than half of the valid votes.
The main contenders are C Anji Reddy (BJP), V Narender Reddy (Congress), and Parasanna Harikrishna (BSP). The BRS chose to stay away from the polls.
At the end of the first preference vote count, none of the three candidates crossed the winning quota of 1,11,672 votes.
Anji Reddy polled 75,675 votes, Narender Reddy secured 70,565 votes, and Prasanna Harikrishna received 60,419 votes. As a result, the counting staff has now moved on to counting the second preference votes.
The counting staff were taken aback by the steadily rising number of invalid votes. They found that many voters had failed to follow the instructions while marking their preferences.
The ballot papers were large, and it took considerable time to unfold and verify each one. The staff also have to cross-check each ballot with the list of 56 candidates.
Contestants raised concerns that the counting staff were not thoroughly examining the ballot papers before declaring them invalid, which led to interruptions in the counting process at several stages. These interruptions required a re-examination of the disputed ballots.
According to sources, the total number of invalid votes in the 2019 election from this constituency was 9,932. This time, however, the number has nearly tripled, raising serious concerns.
Several voters marked their first preference votes for multiple candidates, while others expressed dissatisfaction with the state and central governments by writing messages on the ballot papers.
Some voters wrote “OK” in the boxes against the candidates’ names, while others used pens they had brought with them instead of the sketch pens provided by the polling staff.
Some voters marked “01” instead of “1,” to indicate their first preference, leading to the rejection of their votes.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
