HYDERABAD: High drama unfolded during the polling day for the Congress presidential election at Gandhi Bhavan here on Monday, with a section of leaders complaining about irregularities in the Telangana PCC delegates’ electoral list.
They staged a sit-in protest as a few of the PCC delegates were not allowed to vote in the election despite issuing PCC delegate identity cards, and invitations to vote in the election. This eventually led to protests by aggrieved voters. Their anguish was not because they were not allowed to vote but was borne out of efforts to deliberately “downplay” their role in the party ahead of the next general election.
Former union minister Renuka Chowdary is said to have raised her objections before the Pradesh Returning Officer (PRO) Rajmohan Unnithan in the polling hall. “The duo challenged each other to give complaints to Congress Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry,” said a leader, who was also present during the heated verbal exchange.
Senior leaders Damodar Raja Narsimha and Ponnala Lakshmaiah staged a dharna in front of Gandhi Bhavan as the polling continued. Former PCC president Lakshmaiah’s close associate Ch Srinivas Reddy, another delegate Sanjeev Reddy were not allowed to vote despite being issued identity cards. Lakshmaiah’s rival Kommuri Pratap Reddy who is aspiring for the Jangaon MLA ticket replaced Srinivas Reddy.
“Isn’t this an act of insulting the committed party workers who have been working for decades,” questioned Damodar Raja Narsimha, while speaking to TNIE. Highly placed sources in the party said that the TPCC president A Revanth Reddy has written to Madhusudan Mistry requesting to replace some of the names that were in the initial electoral list. Subsequently, the amended list was sent to the PRO.
As per the party norms, there are two PCC delegates for every Assembly constituency who should include the MLA contestant. Incidentally, it is significant for some to retain their position in the party. Meanwhile, Revanth Reddy said that he was not involved in the election process.