Tension flares in Jubilee Hills as BRS alleges large scale rigging, bogus voting
HYDERABAD: Tension gripped the Jubilee Hills constituency on Tuesday evening during the final hours of polling after Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leaders alleged large-scale rigging and bogus voting by Congress supporters in Yousufguda and Krishna Nagar divisions.
BRS candidate Maganti Sunitha staged a dharna near a polling booth in Krishna Nagar, accusing Congress workers of using fake voter IDs and bringing outsiders to cast bogus votes. She claimed that her party workers were threatened and forced out of the polling premises.
Allegations of bogus voting and intimidation
BRS leaders alleged that fake voters, including women brought from other areas, tried to cast ballots at polling stations such as booths 235 to 240 in Amaravati School, Srinagar Colony. Similar complaints surfaced from Yousufguda and Krishnanagar.
Sunitha alleged that rowdy sheeters linked to local Congress leader Naveen Yadav were intimidating voters and threatening BRS supporters. “They are even casting votes in the names of deceased persons by altering photographs,” she claimed, citing the case of a woman known to her who had died a few months ago.
Police detain protesting BRS activists
Police detained several BRS activists during the protest near the polling booth. BRS leaders expressed anger over what they called police inaction, alleging that officers were “driving them away instead of stopping bogus voting”.
Dasoju Sravan accuses Congress of collusion
BRS MLC Dasoju Sravan also alleged widespread irregularities, accusing Congress of bringing women in burqas from outside areas to vote at Al Falah School in Diamond Hills Colony of Shaikpet division. He claimed that polling officials allowed people without voter IDs to vote and alleged collusion between the Election Commission, police, and Congress.
“Is this a democratic election or a mockery of it?” Sravan asked, demanding immediate action against officials who “turned a blind eye to the malpractice”.
