Thin Victory Margins in Final Phase of Local Polls in Karimnagar, Warangal
Single vote wins for many sarpanch seats
Karimnagar: The third and final phase of the gram panchayat elections witnessed intense contests and exceptionally narrow victory margins in the erstwhile Karimnagar and Warangal districts.
One of the most dramatic moments unfolded in Bahadurkhanpeta village of Karimnagar rural mandal, where three relatives, Burra Maruthi, Burra Sampath Kumar and Burra Tirupati, contested from Ward No. 1 and each secured exactly 27 votes, resulting in a rare three-way tie. The deadlock was resolved through a lottery, in which Burra Maruthi was declared the winner.
Single vote victories emerged as a recurring feature across several districts. In Warangal district, Congress-backed Busa Narsaiah won the Gurralagandi Rajapalli panchayat sarpanch seat by a solitary vote, polling 191 votes against 190 secured by BRS supported Kathula Kumaraswamy, after counting a crucial postal ballot. A similar outcome was recorded in Rangapur village of Peddapalli district, where Ganta Ramesh won by one vote, securing 885 votes against his rival’s 884.
In Peddarupalli village of Manakondur mandal, Ramadugu Harish also clinched victory by a single vote. At Mahatmanagar village in Thimmapur mandal, Ponnala Sampath won with 643 votes, edging past Ekanandam, who polled 642. One vote wins were also reported from Sirikonda village in Jagtial district, where Dharmaraju prevailed, and from Dubbapally village in Peddapalli district, where Ummenthala Shobha defeated her rival by 213 votes to 212.
The trend of narrow margins continued elsewhere. In Kothapalli, Godari Shobarani won the sarpanch post by two votes, polling 324 votes against Kanaka Lakshmi’s 322. In Turkapalli village of Rajanna Sircilla district, Rodda Bhagya also won by a two-vote margin. In Karimpeta village of Shankarapatnam mandal, Sreelatha was elected sarpanch with a margin of just three votes, securing 505 votes against Anusha’s 502.
In Revelli village of Choppadandi mandal, Bandarapu Ajay Kumar won the sarpanch post by six votes, while Velpula Mallaesham secured a similar margin in Kistapur village of Ramadagu mandal. In Rajannapet village of Yellareddypet mandal, Kalluru Bapu Reddy won by seven votes, while Choppari Shailaja won by eight votes in Kandunuripally village of Sultanabad mandal. In Bharthipur village of Ibrahimpatnam mandal, Sangham Amrutha won with a margin of 10 votes.
