VIJAYAWADA: YSRC general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy alleged lapses in the counting of votes of West Rayalaseema Graduates’ MLC Constituency and said they have every right to demand recounts. He took a swipe at Opposition Leader N Chandrababu Naidu for terming the win in the graduates’ MLC seats a people’s victory.
Speaking to the media on Sunday, Sajjala said the TDP chief levelled allegations against officials that several irregularities took place in the MLC elections. He said it was the YSRC that had become a victim of the lapses. Though it was proved with evidence, the officials did not act on our complaint, he said.
Sajjala alleged that senior TDP leaders from Kadapa, Anantapur and Kurnool reached Anantapur for counting and they influenced the officials at the counting centre to include invalid as well as votes of YSRC into the bundles of TDP. “Naidu has the habit of managing institutions and infiltrating into them like a virus,’’ he remarked.
Sajjala questioned as to why the YSRC would lose three graduate MLC seats if it had resorted to irregularities in the election process as alleged by the TDP chief. The YSRC senior leader said they raised objections against the transfer of YSRC votes into the bundles of TDP in the eighth round of counting itself, but the returning officer promised to look into them after the completion of the counting process.
“We have asked the officials to verify the votes and it is our right. We also have proof to show that there are lapses. Even in elections to Parliament, there are instances where the difference is just nine to 10 votes between the winning candidate and the loser and that is why we have asked for recounting,’’ he explained.
Sajjala said it was the habit of TDP to misuse official machinery and they had even used IAS and IPS officers to induce our party MLAs into their party earlier.