Hyderabad: It's all set for polling in both Telugu states on Monday in the fourth phase. Election authorities have made all the arrangements for the peaceful conduct of the polls. In Telangana, polling will be held for 17 Lok Sabha seats with 525 candidates in the fray.
In Andhra Pradesh, elections for the Assembly, comprising 175 segments, and 25 Lok Sabha seats will take place simultaneously. Around 3.31 crore voters in Telangana and 4.8 crore voters in Andhra Pradesh are eligible to exercise their franchise on Monday.
As the campaigning has ended, all parties are focusing on poll management. Buses and trains were seen packed with those belonging to Andhra Pradesh living in Hyderabad going to their native to cast a vote. On Saturday and Sunday, the Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway witnessed heavy traffic.
Poll pundits are estimating that the 2024 elections will be the costliest in both Telugu states, especially in Andhra Pradesh, where the stakes are high.
Punters are betting heavily on both Telugu states' poll results. Betting rackets are focusing on the Andhra Assembly elections, especially on segments like Mangalagiri, Pulivendula, Kuppam, and Pithapuram, and the Kadapa Lok Sabha poll.
Money distribution
Sources in the betting market told DH that at least Rs 2,000 cr is at stake. Apart from betting, the money being distributed among the voters by parties is expected to run into thousands of crores.
In some Assembly constituencies in Andhra, each party is said to have distributed Rs 3,000 per vote. This poll season, a minimum average of Rs 1,500 is being distributed by parties for each vote.
A 2019 study estimated that political parties in Andhra Pradesh spent at least Rs 7,000 to 9,000 cr in that year's polls. A majority of the expenditure was on distributing money to voters. According to a study in 2019 by the Delhi-based Centre for Media Studies (CMS), in four of the 13 erstwhile districts of Andhra Pradesh, the average payment to voters ranged from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 per vote.
Interestingly, some people on Sunday protested on the streets in Sattenapalli of Palnadu district and in Pithapuram, where actor and Jana Sena supremo Pawan Kalyan is running for office, over the parties' refusal to give money to voters.
Assets increased
Notably, the two top leaders in Andhra Pradesh, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and YSRCP supremo and incumbent chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, were among the top three MLAs with the highest increase of their assets in the five years since the 2019 polls.
According to an analysis based on election affidavits submitted by the candidates to the Election Commission done by the Delhi-based Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Naidu has declared a maximum increase in assets from Rs 668.57 cr in 2019 to Rs 931.83 cr in 2024.
Assets of Yeluri Sambasiva Rao of TDP in Parchur constituency have grown from Rs 41.90 cr in 2019 to Rs 295.80 cr in 2024.
Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, who is contesting from Pulivendula constituency, has increased his assets from Rs 510.38 cr in 2019 to Rs 757.65 cr in 2024.