HYDERABAD: Lambasting both the TRS and BJP for the “brazen violation of the model code of conduct (MCC)”, the Congress party on Thursday alleged that both the parties tried to influence voters by distributing money and gifts, obstructing the conduct of a free and fair election. The grand old party leaders who knocked on the doors of Nirvachan Sadan in New Delhi have appealed for the cancellation of the Huzurabad Assembly constituency bypoll, scheduled to be held on October 30.
AICC leaders, including Dasoju Sravan, Ch Vamshichand Reddy and party senior leaders J Kusum Kumar and H Venugopal Rao, submitted a formal representation to this regard to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra in New Delhi. The leaders alleged that after the bypoll campaign ended, both the TRS and BJP brazenly began distributing money in broad daylight to ‘purchase votes’. Each voter was given Rs 6,000 to Rs 10,000. “Within three hours, about Rs 90 crore was distributed among 1.5 lakh voters. This was unprecedented in Independent India,” the grand old party leaders lamented.
Meanwhile, in Hyderabad, TPCC senior vice-president and AICC member G Niranjan felt that the Huzurabad bypoll has turned out to be “a platform for a massive gamble where political parties raised their stakes to a new high which was never heard of in past”. “What is the use of deploying 3,000 cops and 1,800 personnel from various central agencies in the Assembly constituency,” he asked.The leaders urged the CEC to at least replace the entire “biased government machinery” from election duty to ensure a free and fair byelection in the segment.
‘Will crack whip on those influencing the voters’
District Election Officer and Karimnagar Collector RV Karnan, on Thursday, said that strike forces have been increased to move in and arrest those who indulge in influencing the voters with inducements. Even paramilitary forces have been deployed to handle any trouble, the Collector said