HYDERABAD: Barring stray incidents, the first phase of elections passed off peacefully in Andhra Pradesh.
However, the police were on tenterhooks throughout the day in the Old City of Hyderabad which witnessed some minor incidents, including one in which AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi himself thrashed a polling agent. The act was repeated by the party’s MLA elsewhere. Cases were slapped against Asaduddin Owaisi for beating up the rival party worker.
In Nalgonda district, tension prevailed after the sitting Devarakonda MLA alleged that Chandampeta MPP Sarvaiah had kidnapped two polling agents of CPI - Yella Reddy and Keshanayak - at Kambhalapally.
Speaking to mediapersons, Ravindra Kumar alleged that Sarvaiah, a close aide of Home Minister K Jana Reddy, resorted to the act sensing that the CPI was getting more votes.
Later in the day, CPI State secretary K Narayana submitted a petition to Chief Electoral Officer IV Subba Rao alleging Jana Reddy was resorting to rigging. He also petitioned to DGP AK Mohanty on the alleged kidnap of their agents. Earlier, at Ieeza mandal of Mahaboobnagar, police were in for some tense moments after a mob damaged at least 16 EVMs in the polling booth.
Trouble started when a person distributed pamphlets near polling booths urging people to boycott the polls protesting against the inclusion of Ieeza mandal in Alampur constituency instead of Gadwal segment in the delimitation. As the police whisked away the person, a mob, demanding his release, barged into a polling booth and damaged the EVMs and even burnt some. The police had to resort to lathicharge to disperse the mob.
Though the incidents at Nalgonda and Mahaboobnagar did not take a violent turn, the Old City of Hyderabad witnessed a series of incidents.
At two polling booths -- No 199 -- at Sultan Shahi in Moghalpura, MIM workers led by MP Asaduddin Owaisi dragged a polling agent of the TDP, Saleem, and thrashed him. The MIM felt that the party was not getting the `desired number’ of votes which led to the incident. Saleem is said to be a former MIM activist.
Asaduddin, holding a stick, chased Saleem and beat him until the police arrived and rescued the victim. The incident exposed the claims of the police that shadow teams were following the candidates to prevent them from creating trouble.
“Asaduddin Owaisi dragged the TDP polling agent from booth No 199 at Sultan Shahi and, along with his supporters, beat him up with sticks.
Cases have been registered under Sections 147, 448, 324 r/w 149 IPC, 188 IPC and also under Sec 132 of the RP Act,’’ City Police Commissioner B Prasada Rao said in a release.
In Chaderghat, a scuffle broke out between MIM and TDP supporters.
In the melee, an EVM was dropped on the floor. It was replaced and polling went on beyond 4 p.m. In another incident, PRP Nampally candidate Feroz Khan assaulted the polling agents belonging to MIM at the New Oxfords School at Ahmed Nagar.
The MIM candidate from Charminar, Ahmed Pasha Quadri, thrashed two TDP polling agents -- Mohammed Ameen and Mohammed Jaleel -- at Qazipura. Here too, the MLA and his henchmen reportedly dragged out the agents and thrashed them forcing the police to resort to mild lathicharge.
Earlier in the day, the BJP candidate from Chandrayangutta, Jagjeevan Reddy’s car was attacked, allegedly by MIM workers, without any provocation at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Colony. Police said the candidate was moving around in his car when he suddenly came under attack. The car was badly damaged.
In Golconda, activists of MIM and Grand Alliance (GA) clashed after the latter complained of rigging by the former. The police intervened and caned the warring groups.
In Chatrinaka, the PRP and BJP workers exchanged blows over petty issues while in Hussaini Alam, the police had to lathicharge when MIM and TDP workers clashed. At Yakutpura Chaman, an Independent, Zahed Ali Khan, his aide Faheem and others reportedly attacked a TDP worker and also a woman presiding officer.
In Bandlaguda, MIM workers attacked an MBT worker, Mohammed Pahelwan. In view of skirmishes across the Old City, police intensified patrolling in sensitive areas.
In the evening, tension mounted again after a group of persons, believed to be MIM workers, allegedly captured a polling booth (No 143) at Anwar Uloom Junior College, Purani Haveli, after threatening the presiding officer and TDP agents. TDP candidate Ali Masqati caught the group red-handed and informed the police.
Tension escalated after Ahmed Pasha Quadri and Asaduddin Owaisi also reached the spot. Police took one person, said to be an MIM activist, into custody from the booth. The TDP leaders demanded a repoll in the booth while Quadri claimed that no booth capturing had taken place.
Police registered a case under Section 171 of IPC against an `unknown’ person based on a complaint by the presiding officer, Karunakar.
A total 17 cases have been registered in the city. At LB Nagar, Praja Rajyam candidate S Rajaiah was attacked by Congress workers when he entered a polling booth. Similarly, Congress activists attacked a group of college students at L B Nagar when they come to cast their vote suspecting that they might be brought by the Lok Satta and PRP to vote in their favour.
Reports said houses belonging to a particular community were attacked by their rivals at Maheshwaram mandal late in the evening as they voted for a particular party.
