Visakhapatnam: War over ‘votes’ intensifies in East constituency

Visakhapatnam: Ahead of the general elections, dispute over share of votes brews in Visakhapatnam East constituency. While the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) alleges that eligible voters have been mercilessly deleted from the list, the YSRCP raised concern over the TDP’s inclusion of non-local votes.

Both the ruling party and the Opposition party representatives met Collector A Mallikarjuna and submitted a petition regarding their respective issues and requested him to take necessary action against them.

Tension prevailed at the Collectorate as both the parties approached the Collector and raised concern over deletion of votes from the list and inclusion of non-local votes.

In January, the authorities concerned released a final list of voters. However, Visakhapatnam East Constituency MLA Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu observed that thousands of eligible voters’ names from polling centres have been removed. On March 24, he filed a complaint about the same with the Chief Election Commissioner.

According to Ramakrishna Babu, there is a difference of around 10,000 votes between January and March lists. “Who verified the voters ‘list? How could such a large chunk of voters be removed without giving prior intimation to the voters?” questioned the MLA at the Collectorate, demanding a detailed inquiry into the issue.

Meanwhile, East constituency coordinator and VMRDA Chairperson Akramani Vijaya Nirmala pointed out that the TDP MLA is including non-local persons as voters of the constituency. She laid emphasis on inquiring about the same and ensuring that the 2024 voters list should be made transparent.

The east constituency in Visakhapatnam witnessed a tough fight between Akramani Vijaya Nirmala and Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu in the 2019 elections.

Again in 2024 polls, both are going to vie with one another. In order to gain voters attention and political mileage, Vijaya Nirmala and Ramakrishna Babu lock horns over constituency issues.