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

So far 33 candidates have been out of the contest during the counting of second preference votes.

In the second preference vote, Tinnamar Mallanna was ahead with 397 votes, ahead of his nearest rival Rakesh Reddy of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), who secured 266 votes. BJP candidate Premender Reddy stood third with 173 votes. Independent candidate Ashok got 69 votes.

At the end of counting of first preference votes, the Congress candidate was leading by 18,565 votes.

Mallanna got 1,22,813 votes while Rakesh Reddy got 1,04,248 votes. Premender Reddy got 43,313 first preference votes.

Since Mallanna did not secure even 50 percent of the total votes polled, second preference votes were counted.

Alleging that some discrepancies occurred during the counting of first preference votes in the third round, the BRS candidate urged the Election Commission to ensure the smooth conduct of the counting process in a transparent manner.

Around 2,800 election staff are working in shifts to count 3,36,013 votes at the counting center in Nalgonda.

In the by-election held on May 27, 72.44 percent voters had cast their votes.

The vacancy arose after the resignation of BRS's Palla Rajeshwar Reddy after being elected to the assembly from Jangaon constituency in the November 2023 assembly elections. He was elected as MLC in the elections held in 2021.

Unlike the recent Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, ballot papers due to the preferential voting system were used in this by-election.