Hyderabad: Curtains down on campaign

Hyderabad: High decibel poll campaign for municipal elections ended on Monday evening on stormy note. Sporadic minor clashes between the ruling TRS and the Opposition workers were reported in the sensitive municipalities and one TRS leader died in a road accident when he was taking part in a poll campaign.

The polling will be held for 120 municipalities and 9 municipal corporations on January 22 and the counting of votes will be done on January 25.

In view of the closure of wine shops till the election day on Wednesday, leaders of various political parties bought huge stocks of liquor to distribute among voters and the parties are already vying to lure the voters with money.

On the last day of the campaign, all the ministers and Congress and BJP senior leaders participated in the poll rallies in their respective districts.

TRS MLAs had stay put in the municipalities and the party's poll observers were deployed in identified municipalities for the poll management on the voting day.

Senior Congress leaders, including TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy, and others shifted their base to the municipalities in their Assembly jurisdiction to ensure party victory.

Local BJP leaders were asked to mobilise young voters in a big way on the polling day in the party's stronghold urban local bodies.

In a poll-related incident, BJP workers were assaulted allegedly by TRS workers in Mallampet ward of Dundigal municipality.

BJP senior leader Ramachander Rao alleged that TRS leaders targeted the BJP workers and intimidated them with dire consequences if they participate in the poll campaign. Despite lodging complaints, police failed to take action against the assailants, he alleged.

In a bid to show their upper hand, the TRS and Congress workers took out big rallies and shouted slogans against each other in some municipalities.

Mild tension prevailed in Suryapet, Nalgonda, Kodangal, etc, when the TRS and Congress groups confronted during the conduct of bike rallies.

To lure the voters, the parties already started distributing liquor and money despite police and State Election Commission (SEC) claimed fool-proof arrangements to curb the allurements by the parties.

As the government already declared 'dry day 'from Monday evening till the polling day, contestants have bought liquor in huge quantities to supply to voters.

Reports says that liquor sale gone up by 50 per cent in the last two days in all poll-bound municipalities. Money distribution was also rampant.