An eerie calm prevails in Kadapa district that turns a focal point during every election. The Telugu Desam Party and YSR Congress have gone all out to win the crucial elections to Parliament and State Legislative Assembly. The warring groups may take on each other to establish supremacy and counter opponents in the polling process in a ‘do or die’ situation.
A majority of 2,540 polling stations in Kadapa district have been declared hypersensitive, sensitive and trouble-prone given its antecedents.
Officials apprehend troubleThe officials are apprehending trouble in Pulivendula, Jammalamadugu and Kamalapuram Assembly constituencies, which are known for factional feuds and group clashes. Contest here has always been between two families with their party affiliations being nominal.
Around 10,000 police personnel have been deployed in these segments, almost double the strength of security personnel deployed in 2009 elections. Twenty two companies of Central forces and 1,000 home guards from Karnataka and Jharkhand have also been deployed for the polling on May 7 apart from special striking forces, striking forces and mobile police teams. Every village in the district will have police presence to enable people to exercise franchise without fear or apprehensions, according to Kadapa Superintendent of Police G.V.G. Ashok Kumar. Besides, the officials have engaged video recording teams and enabled webcasting in sensitive booths to monitor the polling. Despite deploying a large posse of police personnel, the senior police officials are wary of the happenings on the D-Day due to the presence of several notoriously faction-ridden villages.
Telugu Desam Party’s Rajya Sabha member C.M. Ramesh Naidu and former Minister P. Ramasubba Reddy campaigned in Sunnapurallapalle, Sirigepalle, Peddadandlur and Sugamanchipalle villages in Jammalamadugu on Monday, amid heavy police bandobust, after a gap of about two decades. Despite the police presence, they were obstructed by YSR Congress functionaries, who greeted them with slogans “go back”.
