Veteran TDP leader and former minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu today demanded that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy provide an explanation on the casting of "fake votes" that the leaders of his party, the YSR Congress Party, had allegedly indulged in, in the recently concluded Tirupati by-election.
In a statement, the leader alleged that the ruling party had resorted to recruiting fake voters to win the by-election, and said, "YSRCP leaders from other regions had come to Tirupati to cast bogus votes on behalf of their party. This is deeply undemocratic. Such actions undermine the very spirit of democracy. We demand, therefore, that a re-election be conducted at the earliest."
"The CM has turned AP into a state of fake votes and notes. His government is full of thieves. After his party's conduct in the by-election, it is time he comes clean. I demand that he address the allegation that YSRCP leaders were involved in bogus voting. He must explain how buses full of unregistered voters came to Tirupati. Evading the issue will not help. The Jagan regime must explain its behaviour," the leader added.
He also flayed the Election Commission of India, the State Election Commission and the local police for allowing such malpractice to take place.
"The Collectors and Superintendents of Police of Nellore and Chittoor failed to act even though a senior TDP leader, K Srinivasulu, had alerted them about the bogus voting. 12 cases have been registered against YSRCP workers already. This is shameful. The CM must provide an explanation on the matter," Ramakrishnudu reiterated.
Reacting to a sea of similar allegations, Panchayat Raj Minister Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy had recently claimed that the buses filled with people who had gone to Tirupati were actually devotees who had come to pray at the famed Lord Venkateswara temple.
The TDP has been quite vocal in expressing its disapproval of the ruling party's conduct in the election. Just yesterday, Chandrababu Naidu had revealed that the TDP had
lodged a complaint against the YSR Congress Party with the EC following the ruling party's "misconduct" during the by-election.