TIRUPATI: A day after the Badvel assembly bypolls concluded on a peaceful note, Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) functionaries levelled allegations against the ruling party of prompting bogus voting to cement its winning chances and retain the assembly seat.
The counting of votes for the Badvel bypolls is scheduled on November 2.
Former state minister C Adinarayana Reddy alleged that state ministers, MLAs and other elected representatives of the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) camped at Badvel even after the campaign phase concluded and resorted to bogus voting by roping in non-locals from neighbouring mandals and assembly constituencies.
"Badvel assembly by-elections were no different from the Tirupati by-elections as thousands of fake voters were brought here by the ruling party to cast bogus votes. The local police and the polling staff were hand-in-glove with the ruling party and did nothing to ensure free and fair elections," lamented the former minister.
"At least 50,000-60,000 non-locals who had no identity cards were given slips by the ruling party and they went to the designated polling stations and cast the bogus votes, which eventually led to a spike in the overall polling percentage. While the actual polling percentage was around the 50 per cent mark, it went up to 68.12 per cent on account of bogus votes," Adinarayana Reddy alleged.
