According to an official statement issued on Thursday (August 14), “TDP candidate M Latha Reddy won the Pulivendula ZPTC poll with 6,716 votes against YSRCP candidate Hemanth Reddy”. Bypolls for the Pulivendula and Vontimitta Zilla Parishad (ZPTC) territorial constituencies were held on August 12.
The ZPTC bypass in Pulivendula assumes importance as the local assembly constituency is represented by former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, while Kadapa district is considered the stronghold of the YSR (YS Rajasekhar Reddy) family.
TDP candidate M Krishna Reddy Addaluru won the Vontimitta ZPTC poll against his YSRCP rival I Subba Reddy polling 12,780 votes, according to an official statement.
Meanwhile, Kadapa MP YS Avinash Reddy slammed a section of the media for allegedly glorifying “fake voting in bypolls”.
Speaking to reporters at Pulivendula YSRCP office, Reddy alleged that large-scale fake voting took place in the bypolls.
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“Such elections, where voters were prevented from reaching polling stations and votes were cast illegally, could be termed democratic,” Reddy said in a party statement.
He alleged that the TDP, in collusion with the “yellow media”, is trying to “distract public attention from its (TDP) misdeeds and falsely portray the elections as free and fair”.
Claiming that everyone in Pulivendula knows that the results were predetermined due to alleged one-sided falsified votes, he accused the “yellow media” of creating a “false narrative for people outside the region, portraying voters as having exercised their right to vote with enthusiasm”.
He claimed that police and TDP cadres worked together to keep thousands of ruling party workers at polling stations, intimidate voters, prevent polling agents from entering, tear up agents’ forms and assault them.
“Can we call this a poll? Can we call this an election? Our cadres should not be discouraged. Those who committed such atrocities will be taught a lesson democratically, and that day is not far away,” Reddy said.
The TDP refuted the YSRCP’s allegations and said that after several years, thanks to the NDA government, a democratic vote was held in Pulivendula.
In an article on ‘X’, the ruling party claimed that every time elections were held in Pulivendula, opponents were allegedly prevented from even filing nominations.
“In case the poll was unavoidable, people were not allowed to vote,” the TDP said, about the alleged fate of elections in Pulivendula over the past 30 years.
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