Over 11,000 poll-related FIRs registered in Andhra Pradesh

Vijayawada: As part of poll-related enforcement in the state, the Election Commission oversaw the registration of 11,249 seizure FIRs, Chief Electoral Officer Mukesh Kumar Meena said on Monday.

Seizure of cash, liquor, drugs, precious metals and other freebies amounted to Rs 483 crore from January 1 to June 2, he said, addressing a press conference at the Secretariat.

According to a dataset shared by the CEO, two persons died in election-related violence, 912 were injured and more than 1 crore properties were connected to this violence.

Also, more than one lakh persons were bound over across the state.

However, the most prominent cases of poll violations were the smashing of an EVM by an MLA from the ruling YSRCP, kidnapping of TDP poll agents, damaging of EVMs in Macherla constituency and others.

Macherla YSRCP MLA Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy on May 13 barged into polling station number 202 in the constituency and smashed an EVM on the floor. The entire act was caught on a web camera installed by the Election Commission, leading to his identification with footage and documentary evidence, resulting in him absconding for a few days.

However, the AP High Court has granted him interim protection from arrest till June 6, considering various reasons, including his status of being an Assembly election candidate.

Further, three TDP polling agents kidnapped in Chittoor district on the polling day were eventually traced and secured by the poll panel.

TDP agents were kidnapped from Bokaramanda village in Chittoor district’s Sadum mandal, which falls under the Punganuru Assembly constituency.

“TDP district in-charge Jagan Mohan Raju complained that TDP agents belonging to polling stations 188, 189 and 199 were kidnapped by YSRCP leaders while going to the polling stations,” Meena said in a press release on May 13.

Consequently, the CEO noted that Chittoor district election officials and the police department responded quickly, rescuing the kidnapped agents from Pileru and later enabled them to attend to their duties.

Further, EVMs were damaged at seven polling stations in Macherla constituency alone on the polling day. The southern state witnessed poll-related violence at several places in the districts of Palnadu, Tirupati and Anantapur.

Moreover, police had seized 50 petrol bombs, stones, sickles and two sacks of broken liquor bottles at Pinnelli village in Palnadu district a few weeks ago.

Subsequently, the Election Commission resolved to allocate 20 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) to the state to deal with any exigency on June 4, election results day.

Further, Meena highlighted that CrPC Section 144 will be imposed for as long as required while DGP Harish Kumar Gupta noted that ‘dry days’ could last for three days from June 4.