TDP demands additional forces to prevent rigging

Telugu Desam Party leaders, headed by Dadi Veerabhadra Rao, floor leader in the Legislative Council, expressed fears that large-scale rigging would be conducted by design and asked Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwar Lal to take steps to check the malpractices.

The TDP leaders met the CEO at his Chambers in the Secretariat on Saturday and impressed upon the need to act firmly in dealing with the electoral malpractices by deputing senior police officers on the polling day, deploy additional forces, clear the anti-social elements in the district, and provide security to the polling agents to ensure free and fair polling.

They said that in the earlier Elections their polling agents were targeted by their rivals. “Even on the polling day too, terror was created to rig the Elections, the TDP team said and added that there was therefore need to deploy more forces to control such malpractices.

Speaking to media persons later, they said that groups of anti-social elements were mobilized from the neighbouring districts and were being dumped in the Kadapa lodges.

This was seen by them as a scheme to create disturbances and threaten the voters on May 8.

The other contesting candidates were trying to station outside groups in Kadapa district by design and were scheming to create lawlessness in order to organize rigging in the by-Elections scheduled for Sunday.