All but 2 vote in Prez poll

Hyderabad: Polling for Presidential elections 2022 ended in Telangana with all but two TRS leaders abstaining from voting. While Minister Gangula Kamalakar is down with Covid, Chennamaneni Ramesh is in Germany.

While MAUD Minister K T Rama Rao was the first to cast his vote, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao voted during the afternoon after his arrival from Hanamkonda. Congress MLA from Mulugu Dhanasri Anusuya (Seethakka) became the focal point as it was suspected that she had indulged in cross voting in favour of NDA candidate Draupadi Murmu.

When asked she said that she had voted as per her conscience. "There was no issue about voting but while taking the ballot paper, accidently the pen hit the top of the paper making an ink mark and hence she asked for another ballot paper which the officials refused. There is no confusion on the vote. I have voted as per conscience. It is for officials to decide whether her vote was valid or not," she said.

Later, the Congress MLA released another video stating that she had voted for the candidate which her party had suggested. The Congress party had asked its party leader to cast their vote in favour of the opposition's candidate Yashwanth Sinha.

The process of voting started at 10 am in the committee Hall No 1 of the Assembly building. TRS members came to the Assembly in three buses from the Telangana Bhavan.

Speaker P Srinivas Reddy, Deputy Speaker Padma Rao Goud and other ministers also voted along with the Chief Minister. The Congress and AIMIM members voted after lunch hour. The three BJP MLAs and the YSRCP MLA Maheedhar Reddy voted during the morning hours. The Congress MLA from Sangareddy T Jayaprakash Reddy (Jagga Reddy) kept his party men guessing as he was not present in the morning. He was the last member to vote in the presidential elections.