The Congress escaped defeat when Mohd. Jani, a prestigious candidate by virtue of being Deputy Chairman of the Upper House, scraped through by a whisker in the elections held to 10 Council seats on Thursday.

He won in the elimination round by the narrowest of margins over TDP's K. Pratibha Bharati, whereas a lesser known Congress candidate like M. Ranga Reddy won in the very first round, that too with a surplus of five votes.

As feared, Congress MLAs owing loyalty to former MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy defied the party whip asking them to vote for Mr. Jani and cross-voted in favour of MIM candidate S. Altaf Hyder Rizvi. In all, five Congress candidates, one each of its allies, MIM and PR, two TDP and one candidate of its ally, the CPI made it to the Upper House.

Published Date : Friday, 18/3/2011 2:54 PM IST