| Here, it was Rs. 1,000 per vote, claims one Insider | | | Agencies
HYDERABAD, May 8: In a small village in Seemandhra from the constituency from where Jagan Mohan Reddy is contesting, a member of his party, assigned as his election agent, says he knows what it takes to win votes.
"This time, the Congress is not paying, but YSR Congress and TDP are paying the voters. It is a fact. Rs. 1,000 per vote. If there is a family of 10-15 voters, another Rs. 5000 is given as a bonus."
Rajasekhar Reddy, a former headman of a village in the area, is nudged straight away by those sitting around him to share no more. But he is unafraid. "I am only telling you what is happening not just here but everywhere and what everyone already knows," he insists.
"I myself carried 62 lakh rupees through this route, 37 lakh rupees on one day and 25 lakh rupees on another. No one checked.
As a precaution, we send a bike as a pilot and check if there is police on the route. We also put a government sticker on our vehicle (that says) 'On government duty' and our vehicle just passed through," he details.
Seemandhra voted for 25 parliamentary and 175 assembly seats on Wednesday. Starting June 2, this area will form the new and down-sized Andhra Padesh, with the region of Telangana becoming its own state. For Seemandhra, the battle is between Chandrababu Naidu, chief of the Telugu Desam Party or TDP, and Jagan Mohan Reddy, whose party, the YSR Congress is named after his famous father who died while he was chief minister.
When asked about the repercussions of being caught by officials while bribing voters, Jagan Mohan's party man says there is not much to be afraid of.
"They will book a case. Tomorrow morning we will get bail and we will come out. Who will prove it? Nobody will prove it. Cash will go into their hands. That will be the only loss," said Rajasekhar Reddy.
His allegations were dismissed by top leaders from his party. Chandrababu Naidu also denied any wrongdoing by his candidates. However, the Chief Election Officer (CEO) of Andhra Pradesh, Bhanwarlal, agreed that despite strict surveillance, money is being passed around and explained why. "All cases booked during election time, to be very frank, they are not pursued after election, because neither the police nor courts take interest, as evidence is not there. We catch the money but it becomes difficult to prove that it is meant for luring and bribing voters."
Of the nearly 300 crores that was undeclared and seized in cash by Election Commission officials around the country, close to half came from Andhra Pradesh. |
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