KARIMNAGAR: As October 30 draws tantalisingly close for Huzurabad Assembly byelection, the netas are out to please the voters with all kinds of inducements, more particularly cash. With non-locals having left the constituency after the Election Commission of India’s fiat came into force, asking the outsiders to leave two days ahead of the polling, the local workers are going full throttle to win the voters to their respective party’s side by offering money and liquor.
The price of each vote skyrocketed on Wednesday to Rs 6,000, making the bypoll the most expensive one ever held. The representatives of the principal parties are ensuring that the envelopes stacked with crisp Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes are reaching the voters in stealth through private agents.A few videos did the rounds on social media through out the day where some people were seen questioning the agents as to why there was discrimination in distribution of money, with some getting more and some getting less. The envelopes that reached the voters had some code numbers written on them. It is surmised that if the envelope had No 1 inscribed on it, it meant that the money inside is for one voter. If No 2 is inscribed, then the money is meant for two voters. If there were four votes in a household, the envelopes had No 4 written on them.
Tip of the iceberg
Despite hawk-like surveillance by officials, distribution of cash went on unhindered. Though the police and election officials have checked the vehicles and the places the leaders camped, they yielded no cash, making it clear that politicians are smarter than the police.Till Wednesday, the police seized Rs 3.29 crore cash and liquor worth Rs 7.13 lakh but analysts said it was only the tip of an iceberg.The high-octane campaign by both the TRS and the BJP all along was marked by allegations which touched the nadir at some times.
The TRS focused on the welfare schemes of the government and targeted more on how diesel, petrol and LPG prices have gone up under BJP dispensation while the BJP candidate Eatala Rajender went for KCR’s jugular for hounding him out of the Cabinet.Rajender called him a despot and that people were disillusioned with the family rule in the State. In a last ditch effort, BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Wednesday tried to convert the comments of the Siddipet Collector P Venkatram Reddy into an issue, painting the TRS rule as anti-farmer as it was bullying farmers to go in for crops other than paddy.
The TRS leaders, on the other hand, particularly Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar tried to expose the Centre for going back on its commitment to procure all paddy harvested in the State, which led to the government advising farmers to go in for alternative crops.Meanwhile, District Election Officer and Collector RV Karnan said that all arrangements were in place for the conduct of the Huzurabad byelection. He said that polling will begin at 7 a.m. and the voting process would end at 7 p.m. at 306 polling stations. The total number of electors are 2,37,036, of whom 1,17,933 are men, 1,19,102 are women and one is a third gender.
Crisp notes in envelopes
The price of each vote skyrocketed on Wednesday to Rs 6,000, making the bypoll the most expensive one ever held. The representatives of the principal parties are ensuring that the envelopes stacked with crisp Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes are reaching the voters in stealth by private agents. A few videos did the rounds on social media through out the day where some people were seen questioning the agents as to why there was discrimination in distribution of money, with some getting more and some getting less. The envelopes that reached the voters had some code numbers written on them.