BJP blames government, SEC for low voter turnout

Alleging that the TRS connived with the SEC to bring down the voter turnout to work to its advantage, the saffron party also demanded action against the commission and the State police.

Hyderabad: The blame game has begun and the body language is a give away of the outcome of the GHMC elections. The State BJP leadership on Tuesday sought to blame the State government and the Telangana State Election Commission (TSEC) for the low turnout of voters for the GHMC elections. Alleging that the TRS connived with the SEC to bring down the voter turnout to work to its advantage, the saffron party also demanded action against the commission and the State police.

Addressing the media here, Unoin Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy said the State government must be ashamed of the low turnout for the corporation elections. “The ruling TRS has used the TSEC to achieve its selfish political ends. Instead of fighting for victory, the TRS concentrated on ways to defeat us. I don’t blame the educated and the intellectuals for not coming out in large numbers to vote,” he said, attributing the low turnout to the fear of Covid particularly during the winter months.

“There was sufficient time to conduct the elections, but the TRS which was afraid of a repetition of Dubbak results, advanced the elections knowing well that voters will hesitate coming out in large numbers fearing the second wave of the pandemic. Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, instead of reimposing confidence among voters, created a fear psychosis among them stating that the BJP was planning to create communal violence,” Kishan Reddy said.

The Union Minister alleged that MIM indulged in large scale rigging in the old city and said the police and election authorities remained mute spectators. “The TSEC became a puppet in the hands of the State government and helped in bringing down the poll percentage. The poll percentage in the border divisions of Jammu and Kashmir was better than that of GHMC,” he said.

State President Bandi Sanjay Kumar, however, said the BJP ranks had effectively countered the flow of liquor and money in the GHMC polls, and expressed confidence that the party will win the elections to occupy the Mayor’s seat. “But it is unfortunate that the State government and the TSEC failed to create awareness among the public to understand the importance of corporation elections,” he said.

Alleging that the authorities created an atmosphere of fear among the voters, he said the government knows that voters from Seemandhra go home during holidays and selected the election date preceded by holidays. “The government also arranged extra buses encouraging voters to leave,” he alleged, and demanded action against the SEC and the police chief for their bias against the BJP.

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