'Roller pin' robbed pink party of win?

Hyderabad: Has the symbol, roller pin, resembling the car symbol of TRS led to the defeat of party candidate in Dubbaka bypoll? The TRS party leaders believe that a symbol identical to their party symbol was polled 3,570 votes and had hampered the chances of the party.

According to party leaders, one independent candidate Bandaru Nagaraju was allotted the symbol of rolling pin, which was identical to that of car symbol. Nagaraju was fourth after Congress party candidate in terms of total votes.

Nagaraju polled 3,570 votes, including the 60 postal ballot votes and he was fourth in the list of number of votes secured by the candidates. The TRS leaders felt that the symbol had confused the voters especially the senior citizens leading to the large number of votes getting polled for an independent candidate. It may be mentioned here that the rolling pin had secured more votes even in the Huzurnagar bypoll.

The independent candidate Sapavath Suman polled 2,693 votes and he was getting close to the Congress and BJP candidates. The identical symbols such as truck and tractors have affected the party in successive elections, said a TRS leader.