The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) accused the ruling YSR Congress Party of having resorted to large-scale irregularities in the recently-held byelection to the Tirupati Lok Sabha constituency, at a press conference held here on Monday.
“The ruling party has made a mockery of democracy. The incidents that occurred on election day show the temple city in a poor light,” M. Sugunamma, the TDP’s Tirupati Assembly constituency in-charge, said at the press conference which was attended by TDP State secretary B. Changalrayudu, youth wing leader Sridhar Varma and city unit chief D. Bhaskar Yadav.
Recalling the turn of events on election day, when “bus loads of people from outside the constituency were brought here to cast their votes”, Ms. Sugunamma wondered why the ruling party, which was confident of victory due to its welfare schemes, was so desperate to win the election.
“Such incidents happening in remote villages generally go unnoticed, but it is an insult to the voters of Tirupati, which is home to intellectuals, academicians, educated people and industrial employees. Instead of importing voters from outside by paying them money, the ruling party could have spent the same on the welfare of local voters,” Ms. Sugunamma remarked.
“The ruling party received intelligence inputs that the TDP will win 30% votes after the campaign of our president N. Chandrababu Naidu, hence the irregularities,” she alleged, wondering why the micro observers were unable to find a single act of discrepancy in the 380 polling stations in the city constituency.
BJP demands FIR on ‘fake votes’
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has urged the police department to register FIRs on the complaints lodged by the party activists regarding large-scale irregularities by the ruling party.
Party spokespersons Kola Anand Kumar and Samanchi Srinivas told reporters on Monday that the ruling YSRCP had resorted not only to impersonation, but also in creation of ‘fake’ EPIC cards, which they claimed was a grave offence.
“Though we personally caught several persons and handed them over to the police, no action was taken against them and they were let off. Not initiating legal action against culprits will spell doom for democracy in the coming days,” the duo said.
The party also said it would submit evidence of discrepancies to the High Court in the form of a report. They charged Srikalahasti MLA B. Madhusudhan Reddy of highhandedness and large-scale rigging.
