This Election Petition is filed to direct the recount and scrutiny of all the ballot papers and to declare the election of the first respondent as elected from 98-Jangaon Assembly Constituency, Warangal District in the General Elections held in the month of April 2009 as illegal, null and void and to declare the petitioner as duly elected from 98-Jangaon Assembly Constituency, Warangal District in the said General Elections and to award the costs of the petition.

2. The brief facts pleaded in the election petition are as follows:

In the General Elections to the A.P. Legislative Assembly held on 16.04.2009 through the system of Electronic Voting Machines, the petitioner contested as a nominee of T.R.S. party while the first respondent contested as nominee of Indian National Congress. In all, 11 candidates contested in the election.

3. It is submitted by the petitioner that he contested as a nominee of T.R.S. party in 2004 elections from 261-Cheryal Assembly Constituency. In the said election, there was alliance between T.R.S. party, Congress Party and both communist parties. In that election, the petitioner was elected by huge majority of 25,254 votes against the T.D.P. candidate who was his nearest rival. Subsequently, on the issue of formation of separate Telangana State, all t he T.R.S. party M.L.As. including the petitioner resigned their posts on the ground that the Congress Party went back on the promise of formation of separate Telangana. As a result, by-elections were held in May, 2008 to all the constituencies which fell vacant. In the said by-election, T.R.S. party contested on its own without any alliance with any political party. The daughter-in-law of the first respondent Smt.Ponnala Vaishali contested against the petitioner in the said election as a candidate of Congress Party and the petitioner had one the election by a large majority of 14,643 votes against her. It is submitted by the petitioner that the first respondent Ponnala Lakshmaiah by then was a Minister for Major Irrigation in the State Cabinet worked hard for the success of his daughter-in-law but she was defeated by the petitioner.

4. Nextly, it is submitted that prior to the general elections to the assembly in April, 2009, there was de-limitation of Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies in the entire country as well as in the State of Andhra Pradesh. In the de-limitation, 261-Cheryal Assembly Constituency was abolished and in its place 98-Jangaon Assembly Constituency was constituted by including four mandals of erstwhile Cheryal Assembly Constituency viz. Cheryal, Maddur, Bachannapeta, Narmetta and Jangaon municipality and Jangaon Rural Mandal of the old Jangaon assembly constituency were included in the reconstituted Jangaon Assembly Constituency. According to the petitioner, the T.R.S. party was very strong in all the four mandals of erstwhile Cheryal Assembly Constituency as well as Jangaon municipality and Jangaon Rural mandal. There was also an electoral alliance between T.R.S. party, T.D.P. and both communist parties in the general elections held in April, 2009. In the seat adjustment, Jangaon Assembly Constituency seat was allotted to T.R.S. party. Therefore, the version of the petitioner is that the petitioner who had support of other political parties in the alliance must secure large majority of at least what he had secured in 2004 general elections. It is further submitted by him that the survey reports of the government channels as well as the private channels also indicated that the petitioner would secure huge majority of votes and the defeat of the first respondent is almost certain. The counting of votes was held on 16.05.2009 in the premises of Agricultural Market Committee, Enumamula, Warangal. Twelve tables were arranged for counting f votes, a black board was fixed for displaying the votes secured by round-wise counting and telephone facilities were provided for the print and electronic media. Barricades were fixed for