The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) accused the ruling YSR Congress Party of resorting to major irregularities in the recent election for the Tirupati Lok Sabha constituency at a press conference held here on Monday.
“The ruling party mocked democracy. The incidents on election day show the temple city in a bad light, “said M. Sugunamma, the constituency responsible for the Tirupati assembly of the TDP, at the press conference attended by TDP State Secretary B. Changalrayudu, youth wing leader Sridhar, Varma and head of the city unit D. Bhaskar Yadav.
Ms. Sugunamma remembered the turning point on election day when “busloads of people outside of the constituency were brought here to cast their votes,” and wondered why the ruling party, convinced of victory because of its welfare systems, was desperate to do so to win the election.
“Such incidents in remote villages generally go unnoticed, but it is an insult to voters in Tirupati, where intellectuals, academics, educated people and industrial workers live. Instead of importing voters from outside by paying them money, the ruling party could have spent the same on the welfare of local voters, ”noted Ms. Sugunamma.
“The ruling party received intelligence that the TDP will get 30% of the vote after our President N. Chandrababu Naidu’s election campaign, hence the irregularities,” she said, wondering why micro-observers could not find a single act of discrepancy in the EU 380 polling stations in the city’s constituency.
BJP calls on FIR to “wrong votes”
In the meantime, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has asked the police department to register FIRs on party activists’ complaints about large-scale irregularities by the ruling party.
Party spokesmen Kola Anand Kumar and Samanchi Srinivas told reporters on Monday that the ruling YSRCP had not only resorted to impersonation, but also to the creation of “fake” EPIC cards, which they believed to be a serious crime.
“Although we personally arrested several people and handed them over to the police, no action was taken against them and they were released. If no legal action is taken against the guilty in the coming days, it will mean the fate of democracy, ”said the duo.
The party also said it would provide evidence of the disagreement in the form of a report to the High Court. They accused Srikalahasti MLA B. Madhusudhan Reddy of arrogance and large-scale rigging.