The Nandyal bye-poll, which witnessed heated campaigns from the ruling TDP and the opposition YSRCP, concluded peacefully on Wednesday. The voter turnout stood at 77.6% but with many voters still standing in line, Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwar Lal said that they anticipate that the percentage could peak to 82%.
The bye-poll was necessitated following the death of MLA Bhuma Nagi Reddy in March. He had won the Nandyal constituency under a YSRCP ticket and later defected to TDP. The Nandyal bye-poll will largely see a straight fight between TDP’s Bhuma Brahmananda Reddy and YSRCP’s Silpa Mohan Reddy.
The results of the elections will be announced on August 28.
“Barring two incidents of an Armed Reserve Force constable succumbing to heart attack and another similar incident of the Returning Officer collapsing due to heart problem, there were no other incidents. the victim would be given an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh,” the CEO said.
He said that except one or two minor incidents, all the parties complied with the election code of conduct.
On Wednesday evening, the families of Silpa and Bhuma allegedly created a ruckus on the road in ward no. 7. Except, for this, there was no other incident.
The CEO said asserted that the VVPATs (EVMs with paper trails) introduced for this elections worked fine and said that there was no incident of VVPATs erring.
While several questioned the timing of the National Election Commission’s decision to ask for an FIR against YSRCP Chief Jagan Mohan Reddy, Lal said it was just a coincidence. An FIR was later registered against Jagan for his allegedly violent remarks against Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu in III Town police station in Nandyal under IPC section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and under sections of the Representation of People’s Act. Jagan’s media house Sakshi TV was also booked under sections of the Representation of People’s Act such as 126 (1b) and 126 (a).
“The Returning Officer did nothing wrong it. He was busy with polls. This is a procedure, it can’t be done within a day. We served notice to Jagan and received a reply. Subsequently we forwarded the video of his speech after transcribing them to the EC. There was no delay in this,” he asserted.