Vijayawada: The by-election to Ward No. 12 at Gudivada on Sunday made a mockery of the election process as money rained down on voters. Both the ruling Telugu Desam and the opposition YSRC made it a prestige issue to distribute the most money to voters to win this single ward, which will only last for two years.
The money was distributed in broad day light in front of police. No case has been booked against either party.
TD leaders distributed a whopping Rs 8,000 for every vote, the YSRC, Rs 5,000 and a silver gift article. The by-election was necessitated by the death of the incumbent counsellor, G Laxman Rao.
The ward contains 2,906 votes and nearly 80 per cent of the votes have been polled. To win this single ward, each party spent more than Rs 1 crore. The YSRC fielded G. Suryanarayana, brother of Laxman Rao, while the TD fielded Nanduri Prasad.
The animosity between the ruling and opposition parties reached a peak after 10 YSRC counsellors, including the chairperson Yalavarti Srinivas, shifted loyalties to the Telugu Desam. The YSRC lost the municipality when the counsellors defected and it has become a cut-throat battle to gain the upper hand.
Gudivada was a TD stronghold till Kodali Sri Venkateswar Rao (Nani) was in the party. It lost control when Kodali Nani joined the YSRC. He was a strong leader and won the MLA seat despite the odds in the 2014 general election.
To neutralise Nani in Gudivada and regain its hold over the constituency the TD left no stone unturned and the by-election showed its desperation. It sent MP Konakalla Narayana, Varla Ramaiah and Bachhula Arjunudu to campaign.
When this newspaper tried to contact the returning officer, Bandi Seshanna, about the open bribing of voters, he did not answer his phone.
