Clashes at many polling booths

Hyderabad, Nov. 23: Party workers and candidates clashed in many polling booths in the city during the GHMC elections held on Monday.

Despite police clamping section 144 and deputing mobile teams, reports of clashes came in all through the day.

Police tried hard to disburse mobs which thronged polling stations of 102 wards in the city to which 816 candidates contested. The polling, which started off at 7 am, witnessed a poor turnout of around 50 percent. Clashes erupted in Prashanth Nagar, Puranapul, Yakutpura, Chanchalguda, Mangalhat, Kurmaguda and Ramanthapur.

Tension mounted at Shivrampally after rumours surfaced that a polling agent named Jafer Shareef was kidnapped by MIM workers, after the party chief, Mr Asaduddin Owaisi, scolded him.

However, Mr Owaisi denied the allegations and said he just spoke to Jafer, since he was threatening MIM workers. Jafer returned to the booth at around noon.

Trouble also erupted at Mehdipatnam ward in Langar Houz at around 8.30 am, when the BJP contestant told the police that the Telugu Desam candidate Laxman Rao was distributing money to voters near the polling booth near Prashanth Nagar.

A scuffle ensured and the Asifnagar assistant commissioner of police seized Rs 10,000 from one Bangaru Prakash, while he was moving in a vehicle.

Cases were booked against Raj Mohan, husband of the Puranapul ward MIM candidate Srilatha, after he allegedly beat up a BJP polling agent Mahender. Later, BJP workers staged a dharna in front of the Hussaini Alam police station demanding his arrest.

Likewise, Khaja Bilal Ahmed, an MIM candidate from Rein Bazaarward, allegedly slapped the Telugu Desam candidate Mohammed Shafeeq’s brother-in-law Naseer in the SRT Colony of
Yakutpura.