ANANTAPUR: Tension prevailed at several polling stations in Gopavaram, Porumamilla and Atlur mandals after the BJP leaders accused the YSRC of using non-locals to cast bogus votes and also a few police officers of mingling with the ruling party. BJP state unit president Somu Veeraraju alleged that a sub-inspector, Chandrasekhar from Gopavaram Mandal, threatened the BJP agents to make people vote in favour for YSRC.
“Our party agents were threatened to go out from polling stations in Buttayipalli and Jogireddypalli villages. No Central forces were posted in border villages while local police supported the YSRC to cast bogus votes,” he observed.
About 40 women were sent back from S. Venkatapuram polling station for not having ID cards and reportedly came to cast bogus votes, after the BJP leaders alerted the police. BJP senior leader G.V.L. Narasimha Rao represented the Central Election Commissioner in New Delhi against bogus votes by non-locals. BJP candidate Suresh who visited the polling stations in Goparavarm had a heated argument with YSRC cadres at Varikunta village and blamed them for casting bogus votes cast in the first hour of polling in border villages.
“Many voters went back for not having their names in the voter list,” he noticed. However, the YSRC leaders lashed out at the BJP and the TD with no ethics in politics. YSRC candidate Sudha observed that the BJP had no cadres in the village and appointed TD activists as booth agents in most of the villages.
In the last polls, the YSRC candidate got more than 40,000 majority where 76.37 per cent of polling was recorded but this time, the polling confined to 68.12 per cent in the bypoll.
