While Chief Electoral Officer Shashank Goel had said that the polling for the MLC elections in the graduates' constituencies of Warangal-Nalgonda-Khammam and Hyderabad-Mahabubnagar-Rangareddy had gotten off to a smooth start, reports of an incident of election violence have cast their ugly shadow on the former's claims.
The incident reportedly took place in Mahabubabad's Nellikudur village. Information suggests that a group of TRS workers attacked the BJP candidate for the Warangal-Nalgonda-Khammam seat, G Premender Rao, and his supporters with bricks. Following the attack, Rao and the other BJP workers, who had all sustained injuries, were shifted to a hospital in Khammam for treatment. (Police personnel told the media that the MLC candidate had been struck by a brick in the chest.)
Reports say that the attack took place after the BJP leader confronted the TRS activists for distributing money to lure voters. Several eyewitnesses claimed that the ruling party's workers, incensed by the allegations, attacked him.
Reacting to the incident, Panchayat Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao strongly negated the reports, and said, "The TRS has not attacked BJP leader Premender Reddy. Our workers only stopped BJP leaders from entering the poll booth as this is a violation of the election code. We will of course investigate the matter, and if any TRS workers did indeed indulge in violence, we will take strict action against them. We unequivocally condemn the attack."
However, the minister did use the opportunity to voice his displeasure at the saffron party for trying to "dupe" the voters in the two constituencies with its "anti-TRS" propaganda, and said, "The high election turnout can be attributed to the graduates' awareness of the comprehensive welfare schemes being implemented by our government. I am confident that we will win both the MLC seats despite the BJP's constant smear campaigns against our government."
Meanwhile, reports of the TRS' attempts to
buy votes have been doing the rounds since yesterday.