Mr. Katari Srinivasa Rao has been elected President of the Andhra Pradesh unit of the Lok Satta Party.
The Independent Election Authority which conducted the election by secret ballot on April 5, 6 and 7 declared the result at the end of counting today at the State party headquarters today.
Mr. Srinivasa Rao won by a majority of 702 votes over his rival Mr. Kongara Gangadhara Rao.
The party President is elected by an electoral college comprising about 1800 delegates who in turn are chosen by about 27,400 active, lifetime and executive members of the party.
According to the IEA, 1378 delegates within the State and 26 foreign delegates took part in the voting.
Mr. Srinivasa Rao polled 1044 votes including 14 of foreign delegates. Mr. Gangadhara Rao polled 342 votes including 11 of foreign delegates.
Talking to media, Mr. Srinivasa Rao said it that a man like him belonging to a backward class could get elected to the top position in a party only because of internal democracy. He pledged to live up to people's expectations and strengthen the party during his two-year term and extended his Telugu New Year greetings to all Telugu-speaking people.
Mr. Srinivasa Rao has been associated with the Lok Satta movement and the Lok Satta Party right from their inception. He had served as Secretary of Ranga Reddy unit of the Lok Satta movement and Vice President of the Greater Hyderabad Lok Satta Party unit before becoming General Secretary of the State party unit.
Forty-three-year old Srinivasa Rao, born into a backward class family of Ongole in Prakasam district, graduated from VSR College, Chirala and obtained his Master of Computer Applications degree from Nagarjuna University. He served as Assistant Professor of Computer Science in Chaitanya Bharati Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, from 1998 to 2008.
Mr. Srinivasa Rao has launched many campaigns for improvement of people's living conditions and good governance. He marshaled hundreds of volunteers in the landmark Campaign for Integrated Transport Improvement (CITI) in the twin cities that yielded significant improvements for lakhs of commuters.
Mr. Srinivasa Rao led and coordinated a detailed and intensive voter list verification campaign in Sanatnagar area, covering nearly two lakh voters. The campaign led to major improvements in voter enrolment and verification, transparency and accessibility of electoral rolls, especially via internet. He has has led a multi-pronged fight for justice in the Building Penalization/Regularization Scheme (BPS/BRS).
He has been actively involved in the Surajaya movement of the party which seeks a strong institutional framework for eradicating corruption and empowerment of local governments.
Married to Padmaja, he is father of two sons – Harichandan (12) and Muralikrishna (9).
