Munugodu braces for battle of ballot today

Hyderabad: There is a palpable feeling among all the top leaders of TRS, BJP and Congress as the polling would begin from 7 am on Thursday for the most prestigiously fought Munugodu bypoll.

All parties made the best possible attempt to reach out to the voters as part of vote management. It is reported that the voters have been paid from Rs 4,000 to Rs 6,000 per voter. The leaders feel that the voters would vote for the highest bidder. Still no party is confident of clear victory.

A group of women in a village staged a dharna over not fulfilling the promise of distribution of 10-gm gold. In some villages, voters were calling local leaders over the phone and threatening to cast their votes to the rival candidates if the promised amount was not paid. The party leaders say that they had never seen voters come out and demand money to vote in the elections so openly. It is reported that the major parties were paying anything ranging from Rs 4,000 to Rs 6,000 per vote. The voters are refusing any amount less than this, party leaders say.

Some survey teams hired by all major parties TRS, BJP and Congress are said to be in the constituency for giving an exit poll report to the parties which had hired them.

On the other hand, the EC authorities were busy identifying the outsiders staying in the constituency. The police have found a 50-member group which overstayed in a village and asked them to leave the place immediately. All the vehicles in and around the constituency were being thoroughly checked.

Polling would be held from 7 am to 6 pm. Over 2.41 lakh voters would exercise their franchise at 298 polling stations spread across the constituency. The Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements for polling, including deployment of 3,366 state police and 15 companies of central security personnel. Webcasting would be done from all the polling stations, official sources said.