In a second missive to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), state president Kinjarapu Atchannaidu alleged that the ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) is influencing the booth level officers (BLOs) not to distribute voter slips to non-YSRCP voters on Friday.

“Ruling YSRCP has been influencing BLOs to distribute voter slips only to YSRCP supporters. As a result, it has been observed that the BLOs are not distributing voter slips to neutral voters and to supporters of the TDP in Tirupati parliamentary constituency,” alleged Atchannaidu.

He claimed that the ‘government paid’ village and ward volunteers are allegedly distributing voter slips instead of BLOs.

“Such practice is a gross violation of the model code of conduct, discriminatory in nature and does not provide an equal level playing field to all the political parties,” highlighted the TDP state president.

According to Atchannaidu, many voters in the constituency are not aware of their polling station and other details to exercise their franchise on Saturday.

He claimed that due to the alleged non-distribution of voters’ slips, many people may not turn up to vote, leading to lower voter percentage.

Hence, the TDP leader called on the CEC to ensure that the voter slips are distributed to all the voters without discrimination.

Meanwhile, Atchannaidu alleged that even though the Election Commission has issued a memo not to allow outsiders into Tirupati parliamentary constituency after the end of campaigning at 7 p.m. on Thursday, the ruling party is allegedly harbouring a large number of outsiders.

“It has come to our notice that a large number of outsiders are being brought from neighbouring Assembly segments and districts in private buses during dark hours into Tirupati parliamentary constituency,” he alleged.

Attchannaidu alleged that around 300 people are staying at Nehru hotel in Anjimedu, 50 people from Punganuru at Sambasiva Reddy’s house and 100 more from the same place at BC colony, all in Yerpedu mandal, totalling 500 from Punganuru.

“Further, there is a strong reason to believe that Chandragiri YSRCP MLA is sending a large contingent of YSRCP henchmen from Chandragiri, Chittoor district to vitiate the election atmosphere in Tirupati parliamentary constituency,” he alleged, making similar claims on Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy.

Finally, the opposition leader alleged that the YSRCP leaders are forcefully procuring postal ballots meant for government employees and also those aged above 80.

“Hence, it is pertinent to conduct an inquiry into the misuse of postal ballots and take appropriate action against the culprits,” Atchannaidu claimed.

Right from day one, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been commenting vigorously on the personality of YCP nominee Dr. Gurumurthy in the Tirupati by-election. Nara Lokesh, GVL Narasimha Rao and such leaders have been saying that if elected, the YCP nominee would only do more massages as the personal physiotherapist for Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy. He would not be of any help to the people in the Parliament.

All said and done, the YCP leaders were unable to counter this personal criticism against Dr. Gurumurthy. It was a fact that the Chief Minister had given the Tirupati ticket to him just for his services as the personal physiotherapist. It was more because Dr. Gurumurthy rendered his services to Mr. Jagan during his state-wide Padayatra before the 2019 elections.

Finally, YCP’s most controversial Minister Kodali Nani has come forward to counter the personal attacks by the TDP and the BJP. He has selected the TDP nominee for specific attack. Kodali has asked the voters to vote for only such a candidate who would have the correct body physique to move quickly to solve people’s problems.

Kodali’s remarks are indirectly aimed at TDP nominee Panabaka Lakshmi who is overweight. The Minister’s message is also clear that their nominee Dr. Gurumurthy has got a healthy and agile body. On their part, the TDP leaders are saying that experience and capabilities are required to raise people’s issues in the Parliament but not body building or physique.

Manthena Anantha Varma, former Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLA from Bapatla joined the ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) on Wednesday in the presence of Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy at his camp office.

Eight more local TDP leaders from Bapatla abandoned TDP led by Nara Chandrababu Naidu in favour of the YSRCP.

The new joinees include Manthena Subbaraju, V. Venkateswara Raju, M.V. Sarveswara Yadav, Prudhviraj, Manthena Nagaraju, Bapuji and Modugula Venkat Reddy.

Deputy Speaker Kona Raghupati and YSRCP general secretary Lella Aappi Reddy were present during the joining.

Since many days, scores of Opposition parties’ supporters have been joining the ruling party.