IBNLive Poll: Majority want a unified Andhra

New Delhi: Majority of respondents to an online poll on the six options suggested in the Justice BN Srikrishna Committee report on the Telangana issue voted for a united Andhra Pradesh.

The report, which was released by the Centre in New Delhi on Thursday, says that status quo be maintained for the sake of internal security and economic well being and out of the chief minister and deputy chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, one of should be from the Telangana region.

But the two-volume 461-page report also suggests that maintaining status quo is the least favoured option.

Of the 9316 votes polled on the question "which of the options listed by the Srikrishna panel on Telangana is the best?" 3,862 people voted for a united state providing constitutional measures for socio-economic and political development and formation of Telangana Regional Council.

Nearly 1098 or 30 per cent of the votes polled were for option three of maintaining status quo with either the Chief Minister or Deputy Chief Minister from Telangana.

A total of 2,749 respondents opted for option two, or the bifurcation of Seemandhra and Telangana as per existing boundary with Hyderabad becoming the capital of Telangana.

A total of 46.72 per cent of respondents opted for a bifurcated Andhra Pradesh.

Option six, or bifurcation of the state into Rayaltelangana and coastal Andhra with Hyderabad going with Rayaltelangana got the least number of votes with only 1.27 per cent people opting for it.

Option five, or bifurcation of the state into Seemandhra and Telangana with Hyderabad as a union territory got 5.38% of votes.

Option four or bifurcation of the state into Telangana and Seemandhra with an enlarged Hyderabad to become a union territory got 967 or 10.43 per cent of the votes.

People of 66 countries voted and interestingly, 3,648 of the total 9316 votes polled were from the United States that has a thriving population of Telugu-speaking non-resident Indians. Of the NRIs who voted from the US, 44.44 per cent or the majority opted for a united Andhra Pradesh.