Mon Mar 03 16:03:17 UTC 2025: ## Telangana Election Counting Hampered by High Number of Invalid Votes
**Hyderabad, March 3, 2025** – The counting of votes for the Telangana Legislative Council’s Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar Graduates constituency has been thrown into disarray by an unusually high number of invalid ballots. Over 40,000 of the approximately 260,000 votes cast – more than 20% – were deemed invalid, despite the electorate consisting solely of graduates.
This unexpectedly high invalidation rate, which initially reached an estimated 60,000 according to early reports, caused chaos at counting centers and prompted protests from several independent candidates. They allege a lack of adequate voter education regarding the preferential voting system used in the election. This system requires voters to rank candidates in order of preference.
The issue is particularly striking given the educational background of the voters. The sheer volume of invalid votes is forcing election authorities to undertake a complex recounting process.
Meanwhile, in the Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda Teachers constituency, no candidate secured the required 11,821 votes in the first round of counting. The election authorities have moved to count second and subsequent preference votes to determine the winner. P. Sripal Reddy and A. Narsi Reddy are currently leading with 7,673 and 5,660 votes, respectively. The high number of invalid votes in both constituencies has raised concerns about the efficiency of the election process.
First Piper 