Hyderabad, June 8 : Ruling Congress party in Telangana won the by-election to the Legislative Council Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda Graduates' Constituency.

Chintapandu Naveen alias Teenmaar Mallanna defeated his nearest rival Rakesh Reddy of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).

Mallanna was declared elected late Friday night when he was ahead of Rakesh Reddy by over 14,000 second preference votes.

Returning officer Dasari Harichandana handed over the certificate to Mallanna past midnight. The details of the votes secured by the candidates will be declared later in the day.

The counting of votes, which began at 8 a.m. on June 5, came to an end at 10.30 p.m. on June 7.

Mallanna and his supporters celebrated the victory when he secured an unassailable lead over Rakesh Reddy after the elimination of BJP candidate G. Premender Reddy.

Rakesh Reddy said he may have lost technically but it was a moral victory for him and his party.

The process of counting second preference votes, which began on Thursday night, continued on Friday.

About 2,800 election staff toiled for 62 hours to count 3,36,013 votes at the counting centre in Nalgonda.

In the by-election held on May 27, as many as 72.44 per cent of voters had cast their votes. Ballot papers were used for the polling.

The vacancy arose after Palla Rajeshwar Reddy of BRS resigned following his election to the Assembly from the Jangaon constituency in the Assembly elections held in November 2023. He was elected as MLC in the election held in 2021.

/IANS