MLC polls peaceful : Oppn leaders allege rigging

Vijayawada: Election of the members of Teachers and Graduates Constituencies of the Legislative Council passed off peacefully barring some stray incidents and allegations of bogus voting and rigging in some constituencies.

The Left parties staged a protest near RTC bus station in Tirupati demanding repolling in the pilgrim city. They complained to the Election Commission that even there were large-scale bogus voters who were allowed to cast their votes and demanded repolling.

CPM senior leader Kandarapu Murali said the police did not act even when they complained of bogus voters. On the other hand, they had "unleashed," force on the Opposition leaders and activists when they tried to prevent bogus voting.

The Left leaders even caught a women who did not pass even 10th class came to vote in the Graduates Constituencies MLC election.

TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu also wrote to the CEC alleging that the police and election officers did not take action though several incidents of rigging were brought to their notice. The government denied the allegations.

They alleged that Tirupati MP Dr M Gurumurthy, Chandragiri MLA and TUDA chairman Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy, Corporation Deputy Mayor Bhumana Abhinay Reddy and party MLC candidate P Syam Prasad Reddy had led the rigging process and claimed that election officials remained as silent spectators.

However, Director General of Police KV Rajendranath Reddy said that no untoward incident was reported from anywhere. He said only 56 cases were registered for the violation of election code. Polling was conducted in 1535 polling booths situated in 20 districts across the state. The DGP said elaborate bandobust was arranged for the counting on March 16. Visakhapatnam registered 53.62 voting percent, Anakapalli 54.20, Vizianagaram 75 percent, Parvathipuram Manyam 73.84 percent, Srikakulam 96.91 percent and Chittoor 79 percent. Likewise, the Teachers Constituency of Chittoor district recorded a massive 82.54 percent polling. In Kurnool, the poll percentage was 90.26. In Nandyal district, it was 93.63 percent.