Missing Ballot Found After Vasalamarri Sarpanch Poll Decided By Toss

Congress-supported candidate Dommata Anuradha was declared sarpanch after a toss, as she and her rival, BRS-backed candidate Palugula Uma Rani, secured an equal number of votes in the polling.

Of the 1,236 voters in the village, all exercised their franchise in the polling held on December 11, along with two postal ballots. Fourteen votes were declared invalid. Of the valid votes, both the Congress and BRS candidates secured 609 votes each, while three votes were polled for none of the above (Nota). Election officials later found that one polled ballot paper was missing. As both candidates were tied, officials conducted a toss to determine the winner.

The controversy deepened when a villager reportedly found the missing ballot paper near the Vasalamarri polling station and handed it over to the BRS candidate. Citing this as proof, Palugula Uma Rani submitted a complaint to district collector M. Hanumantha Rao. The collector said an inquiry into the incident would be conducted by revenue divisional officer Krishna Reddy.

Uma Rani alleged that officials pressured her to agree to the conduct of the toss and sign related documents, and claimed that no serious effort was made to trace the missing ballot paper. She said the recovered ballot paper had been cast in her favour and announced that she would approach the State Election Commission and the High Court seeking justice.