Hyderabad: The BJP has blamed the TRS government in Telangana and the State Election Commission for the low turnout in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections on Tuesday.
Union Minister of State for Home, G. Kishan Reddy, alleged that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government used the State Election Commission (SEC) to bring down the voter turnout to work to its advantage.
Addressing a news conference along with state BJP president Bandi Sanjay after the polling, Reddy said the government must be ashamed of the low turnout for the corporation elections.
He alleged that instead of fighting for victory, the TRS concentrated on ways to defeat the BJP. He said he can't blame the educated and the intellectuals for not coming out in large numbers to vote.
Reddy said afraid of a repetition of the Dubbak by-poll result, the TRS conducted the GHMC polls in a hurry. He said voters hesitated to come out in large numbers fearing a second wave of the pandemic.
The Central minister also alleged that MIM indulged in large scale rigging in the old city and said the police and election authorities remained mute spectators.
"The poll percentage in the border divisions of Jammu and Kashmir was better than that of GHMC," he said.
Sanjay said though TRS used all the tactics to rig the polls, the BJP effectively countered the flow of liquor and money.
"Hats off to the State Election Commission for acting on the direction of the TRS government to ensure low turnout," said Sanjay.
The BJP leader claimed that despite all the conspiracies, the countdown has begun for the TRS government. He exuded confidence that a BJP corporator will become the city mayor.
He said Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, with his statements that some people are conspiring to incite communal violence, created an environment so that people don't come out to cast their votes.
Sanjay claimed that police officers distributed money among the voters on behalf of the government. He also said that pro-government officials were given poll duties.
He said the government knew that voters from Andhra Pradesh go home during holidays and selected the election date preceded by holidays. He claimed that the government also arranged extra buses to encourage voters to leave.
(With IANS Inputs)