Police helped TDP block nominations, alleges YSRCP MLA

Ongole: YSRCP Prakasam district president and Darsi MLA Dr Buchepalli Sivaprasad Reddy accused the coalition government, led by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, of misusing police against YSRCP candidates in the local body elections. He alleged that the government wants to win Municipal, MPTC, ZPTC and Panchayat elections by restricting the opponents from filing nominations to claim unanimous wins.

Sivaprasad Reddy alleged that on October 17, TDP workers attacked YSRCP candidates and tore their nomination papers while police watched at Darsi. He said police stopped Municipal Chairman candidate Vennapusa Venkata Reddy and him at the Clock Tower, about 500 metres from the nomination venue, though they allowed nearly 1000 TDP workers to gather there. Vennapusa Venkata Reddy was attacked in front of the police and was brought back without filing his papers. Sivaprasad Reddy said that on October 18, about 50 policemen placed him under house arrest. Police had promised that 300 officers would ensure the YSRCP candidates filed safely. Even so, more than 2000 TDP workers stayed at the venue, he alleged. When YSRCP workers moved towards the venue to file the nominations, police used lathis and obstructed them from participating in the democratic process of elections.

The district YSRCP president said police later booked cases against 19 to 20 YSRCP leaders after a sub-inspector sustained a minor injury. He said some of the accused were not even in Darsi. One accused, Guda Sreedhar Reddy, had just reached Hyderabad from the United States and is hundreds of kilometres away. Sivaprasad Reddy demanded a CBI probe and asked the Central Election Commission to step in. He said the party will approach the High Court.

Sivaprasad Reddy appealed to the public to support Kuppam Prasad, the YSRCP mayor candidate at Ongole Municipal Corporation and vote for him.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Naresh Nandam

Naresh.Nandam[email protected]

Naresh Babu Nandam works as a Special Correspondent at The Hans India and primarily covers the erstwhile Prakasam district. He has a master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication and a bachelor's degree in Law. He has around twenty years of experience in print and broadcast journalism. He is a certified Google News Initiative trainer for fact-checking and online verification. Outside his journalism work, he is an OSINT practitioner and takes part in CTF challenges. He is the author of a spiritual thriller titled 'The Amber Scroll', available on Amazon.in.

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