Telangana Polls 2023: Parties draw flak for using students for campaigning

After the Congress candidate from Adilabad, Kandi Srinivas Reddy, distributed pressure cookers even before announcement of polling schedule, now political parties are drawing flag for using school students to promote their candidates

Adilabad: After the Congress candidate from Adilabad, Kandi Srinivas Reddy, distributed pressure cookers even before announcement of polling schedule, now political parties are drawing flag for using school students to promote their candidates. With some students posting photographs and infographics of parties on their WhatsApp status, educationists and teachers are unhappy over the trend. They requested the Election Commission of India to take action against such practices.

“It has come to our notice that some parties are paying students for posting images and videos on their WhatsApp status. They are offering Rs.100 per image and video. This is not a welcoming sign to drag school students into the canvassing,” a teacher from Adilabad said.

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Meanwhile, a national party is reportedly poaching Sarpanches and Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency members and other mandal-level public representatives by offering packages somewhere between Rs 5 lakh to Rs 20 lakh each in Mancherial district. The conversation of leaders of the party and their targets went viral on social media platforms.