Hyderabad: As many as 97 per cent of people who participated in an open ballot rejected the proposal to construct a Secretariat complex at the Bison Polo Ground, said former MP V. Hanumantha Rao who had conducted the poll on Tuesday.
The ballotting was done at 20 places in the city and the results were declared on Wednesday after counting. He said 18,460 persons had participated in the poll of whom 17,892 (97.13 per cent) voted against the Secretariat shift and 387 were in favour, he said.
Another 39 votes were declared invalid as people had written slogans against the government and 142 did not express any opinion.
TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and Mr Hanumantha Rao expressed satisfaction over the ballot results and appealed to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to honour public opinion reverse his decision of constructing the new Secretariat.
Indian Journalist Union secretary-general Devulapally Amar was the returning officer for the counting of ballots taken up at Press Club.
