The election of president and vice-president of Kadapa District Cooperative Central Bank (DCCB) was deferred to Thursday following the kidnap of election officer and a clash between YSRC and Congress workers.
The election, which was to take place on Tuesday, could not be held for want of quorum, and it didn’t take place on Wednesday either as there was no election officer. Election officer CS Chandrasekhar was kidnapped the previous night. He managed to arrive only at around 3 pm.
YSR Congress leaders alleged that Congress was responsible for the disappearance of the election officer as it knew it would be defeated if the election was held.
The day started with no one being at the DCCB to conduct the election and as soon as it became known that the election officer was kidnapped, YSRC leaders resorted to an agitation.
The YSR Congress had won eight director posts in the DCCB and Congress six. The YSRC directors stayed put in the conference hall of the DCCB, raising slogans against Congress as Kamalapuram Congress MLA G Veera Siva Reddy took the Congress directors out of the meeting hall saying there was no one to conduct the election.
“The Congress got the election deferred deliberately by kidnapping the election officer,” YSRC leader YS Vivkeananda Reddy said.
The election officer was reportedly kidnapped on Tuesday night by unidentified persons as he was returning home after office hours. The abductors asked him to board a car saying some MLAS wanted to meet him. As soon as he got into the car, they drove out of Kadapa to Chittoor district, it is learnt.
On Wednesday morning, the election officer’s wife lodged a complaint with the police that her husband was missing. While she was in the police station, there was a call to her from her husband saying that he was left at Molakalacheruvu in Chittoor district and that he was on his way back home. By the time he arrived in Kadpaa, it was 3 pm, too late to hold the election.
Chandrasekhar reported the matter to district collector K Sasisdhar and said, “I was whisked away in a car by some strangers. They left me in Chittoor district.”.
When the news of the kidnap broke out, Veera Sivareddy was leaving the DCCB officer with his directors. YSRC leaders, who included MLAs and MLCs, tried to stop them, accusing them of kidnapping the officer. Some YSRC workers threw footwear at Veera Siva Reddy, who slapped his thigh and dared the YSRC men to come to him for a show down.
YSRC workers later lodged a police complaint that Siva Reddy had used filthy language against them.