A division bench of Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday set aside the election of Telugu Desam Party's MLC Narsa Reddy from the local bodies' constituency of Nizamabad district.
The bench while declaring its verdict termed the election of Narsa Reddy as 'invalid' and declared Venkat Rami Reddy of Congress candidate as elected by a margin of nine votes. Earlier, Venkat Rami Reddy had challenged the election of Narsa Reddy from the constituency and filed a petition seeking recount of votes before the High Court.
Following the petition, the court ordered the Election Commission to recount the votes in the presence of High Court judges. After the recounting of votes, the court found that Venkat Rami Reddy was elected by a margin of nine votes.
Responding to High Court verdict, Narsa Reddy said that he would consult legal experts to file a petition in the Supreme Court against the High Court verdict.
Following the HC verdict, TDP's strength in the legislative council got reduced to 17.
It may be mentioned that earlier, Narsa Reddy filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the recounting of votes. However, the apex court asked Narsa Reddy to settle the issue in the state High Court.