G. Ashok, working as a sugarcane cutting labourer for a sugar factory, returned to his tanda located in Kangti mandal to cast his vote in the Narayankhed by-election. Not only him, his brother, Jeevan, too came from neighbouring Nizamabad district headquarters for the same purpose.
Gangaram who has been working at Kouttur sugar factory arrived on Saturday morning to cast his vote. All the houses in the tanda wore a festive look with relatives coming from afar to participate in the voting. Many of them wore ironed clothes to appear neat while voting.
This tanda has more than 105 houses with a population of about 1,000 and over 500 people on the electorate list. The villagers informed that more than 300 voters, who migrated outside the tanda, returned to exercise their franchise. Not less than six to seven vehicles – sometimes even buses – were parked at one or the other place in several villages indicating the return of migrants. Even the buses and private vehicles, which started from the district headquarters and passing through Narayankhed, were heavily packed with passengers.
All the political parties, particularly the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), have focused on brining the migrant labourers to their respective villages, and the responsibility was entrusted to their local leaders. In most of the cases, the transport was arranged by political parties. It was expected that a majority of around 30,000 people who migrated from the constituency have returned to participate in the voting.
