Allegations flew thick and fast that political parties were distributing money and liquor to voters on Monday, the eve of polling in 12 Assembly constituencies in Telangana.
The parties were said to have worked their way round the tight supervision by Election Commission officials by doling out money either very late on Sunday night or in the early hours of Monday. However, many of the offenders landed in the custody of police who seized huge cash of Rs. 2.1 crore during searches in the past few days.
Peaceful campaign
A remarkable feature of the byelections was the peaceful nature of the campaign though the Telangana sentiment was running very high, the tempo being sustained by TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao and joint action committees of students and other groups. Even naxalite activity, which tends to rise during elections, remained subdued so much so that Home Minister Sabita Indra Reddy and other Ministers could campaign for Congress candidates in Sircilla and Vemulawada constituencies without much security cover.
