YSRCP deployed bogus voters in Kuppam to subvert public mandate: TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu

TDP president and former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu has accused the ruling YSRCP of deploying bogus voters to subvert people's mandate in Kuppam and other civic bodies.

Polls were held for several municipal bodies in Andhra Pradesh on Monday, including Naidu's Assembly constituency Kuppam where he has alleged large scale irregularities in the election process at the behest of ruling YSRCP.

The Opposition leader lauded the Kuppam voters for “putting up strong resistance by coming out in large numbers to oppose the election excesses of the YSRCP leaders.” “They have caught hundreds of bogus voters and handed them over to the authorities. It is a black spot to democracy that the police did not act against bogus voters but resorted to lathi-charge on the people who came to halt impersonators,” Naidu said addressing reporters in Amaravati.

Naidu charged Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy and his party men of “committing midnight murder of democracy by getting the TDP polling agents and leaders arrested hours before the election by the police, who have become unprincipled under the present regime.” Naidu said that Jagan is under “delusion that he could use money and muscle power every time to sabotage elections and subvert the public mandate.”

“But the events today revealed how the people in the streets have begun to revolt against this lawless government,” Naidu said while observing that public perception of wrongdoing has improved in his home district Chittoor from the time of Tirupati Lok Sabha bypoll held in April.

The TDP, BJP and Jana Sena parties had then alleged large scale fake voting, impersonation, and other malpractices by the YSRCP and demanded the Election Commission of India to conduct re-polling in Tirupati. The YSRCP had retained the seat by a majority of over 2.7 lakh votes.

Stating that there is video evidence showing how the YSRCP brought fake voters in buses from other districts and states on Monday, Naidu accused the State Election Commission officials and the police of becoming mute spectators to YSRCP's poll excesses including “using of innocent youngsters as bogus voters.” “The ruling party is trapping youngsters in criminal cases and then blackmailing them to carry out such nefarious activities to favour Jagan,” Naidu alleged.

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