Post fierce contest, Unease as ap votes today

The electoral fate of several prominent candidates will be decided on Monday when polling for 96 Lok Sabha seats across 10 states and Union Territories will be held during the fourth phase of the general elections.

These elections assume greater importance for Andhra Pradesh where simultaneous polls will be held for 175 Assembly seats and 25 Lok Sabha seats where a triangular contest is going to take place. Will AP vote for direct cash benefit minus development and high debt-trap or will they go in for the double engine government which promised development on fast-track, construction of capital city, cancellation of the controversial land titling act and resolving the unemployment issue along with higher cash benefit schemes remains to be seen.

The main fight would be between the TDP-Janasena and BJP combine on one side and the YSRCP on the other side. The Congress is going to be a comparatively minor player as it is on the path to resurrect itself and recover from the losses it suffered during the last decade.

The state had witnessed a very high voltage and vitriolic campaign in the last two months. The ruling YSRCP is contesting in all 175 Assembly seats and 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state. The campaign was intense marked by fervent speeches from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, Pawan Kalyan and several other prominent leaders across political parties.

The battle will decide as to who Arjun is, who played the role of Lord Krishna and who Kaurvas are. Jagan Mohan Reddy asserted that the opposition alliance consists of demons and ‘Kauravas’ and Chandramukhi.

Over 4 crore voters are ready to cast their votes to elect the new government. But there is palpable tension in the state as it has a history of violence on polling day. In 2019, there were a good number of such incidents and even one or two people were hacked to death.

In the last two days, the state witnessed some sporadic incidents of violence. There were at least two incidents where people were reportedly beaten up for not accepting the note for vote allegedly by YSRCP activists. On Sunday, there was a clash between TDP and YSRCP activists on the issue of polling agents in Palnadu region which has a long history of violent incidents.

The EC claims that it had taken measures for the violence-free polls in the State. Over one lakh security personnel have been drafted for the election duty in the State. The staff includes 58,948 police personnel from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and other wings. Around 28,580 Central police personnel will be on duty. Besides, NCC, NSS volunteers, ex servicemen, retired police personnel joined the election duty to ensure free and fair elections in the State.

In contrast, the situation in Telangana appears to be more peaceful. There is no visible tension anywhere and the stage is set for peaceful polling for the triangular fight between the Congress, BJP and BRS. Let’s hope that a large number of voters will cast their votes. The only regret is that the money power continues to play major role even as India has entered the ‘Amrut Kal.’