MLC elections: UTF’s Ramakrishna wins Guntur-Krishna seat

The TDP-backed United Teachers Federation (UTF) candidate AS Ramakrishna won the Guntur-Krishna Teachers MLC elections by defeating his nearest rival Lakshman Rao of the Progressive Democratic Federation.

Ramakrishna won in the first round itself. He secured 6986 votes, while Rao got 5037 votes. Ramakrishna was backed by the TDP. The counting of the votes was taken up at Guntur on Wednesday and from the beginning the TDP-backed candidate dominated the proceedings.

However, Laksman Rao alleged that money, caste and community power was unleashed against him by his rivals. He said the voters were lured with mobile phones. There was threat and coercion too, he said. “Despite all this, I managed to secure considerable number of votes and gave a tough fight to the ruling party-backed candidate,” he said.