NDA candidate Alapati Rajendra Prasad was leading at the end of the second round of counting of votes polled at the biennial election to Krishna-Guntur Graduates Constituency of the A.P. Legislative Council, on Monday (March 3).

Mr. Rajendra Prasad secured 34,721 votes against his nearest competitor K.S. Lakshmana Rao (13,956 votes) at the end of the second round. Save for Mr. Rajendra Prasad and Mr. Lakshmana Rao, none of the 25 candidates in the fray have secured over 300 votes. As many as 6,075 votes were identified as invalid in the two rounds.

Returning Officer and Guntur District Collector S. Nagalakshmi told The Hindu that 2,41,500 votes were polled in election out of the 3,47,116 votes the constituency, which translates to a poll percentage of 69.56.

These apart, 371 postal ballot votes, too, were polled, out of which 55 were found invalid.

Graduate voters participated in election at 483 polling stations across the districts. She said they engaged over 1,500 staff in three shifts for the counting.

The election authorities have arranged 28 tables to count 1,000 votes each per round. That is, 28,000 votes a round. The counting would be completed in nine rounds. Officials at the counting centre said the process is likely to be completed by around 2 a.m. on Tuesday.