Late on Thursday, the Telangana State Election Commission had stated that votes containing a distinguished mark with Swastika should be considered in the counting of votes. However, the BJP citing the announcement of the State Election Commission as against the rules had approached the Telangana High Court. The High Court has heard the petition by the BJP on Friday morning and ruled that votes containing only Swastika should be counted and that no other mark must be considered. This verdict by the Telangana High Court comes as a rude shock for the State Election Commission.
Already, the Saffron Party which has taken a strong lead in the postal ballot votes has welcomed the High Court’s decision. The BJP had earlier alleged the ruling TRS party workers of resorting to massive rigging in the recently held GHMC polls on December 1st.
It is after a span of eighteen years that the GHMC elections were held using paper ballots. They were earlier used in the elections to the erstwhile MCH (Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad) in 1986 and later in 2002. So far in the postal ballots, the BJP has taken a lead in 74 divisions, the TRS in 35 divisions, MIM in 10 divisions and the Congress in three divisions.