After bouts of violence, smooth voting in Dubbaka

SIDDIPET: The crucial phase of the byelection for the Dubbaka Assembly seat came to an end on Tuesday when 82.61 per cent of the electorate exercised their franchise in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic. This is about two notches lower than the turnout during the 2018 Assembly election, when polling had touched 85.99 per cent.

The voters’ verdict, on who should represent Dubbaka in the Telangana Assembly, is now in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) and it will be out on November 10 when the votes are counted. The day was marked with interesting incidents — some turned heads and some raised eyebrows. In one such incident, which impressed many, 11 Covid-19 patients took the trouble of wearing PPE kits and going to their respective polling stations to exercise their franchise. 

Medical and health officials had arranged for their transport from their villages and the patients were allotted a time slot of 5 pm-6 pm to vote, after which they were dropped back home. In a stark contrast to this, a news clip went viral in the constituency, creating an impression that Congress’s contestant for the bypoll, C Srinivas Reddy, is rejoining the ruling TRS. Rumour mills went into an overdrive, forcing Srinivas Reddy and senior Congress leaders to declare that the video was fake. 

Though campaigning by the three main parties — the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress — was fierce, sometimes leading to scuffles and heated arguments over alleged electoral malpractice, the parties’ workers on Tuesday behaved themselves and ensured that the voting process went off peacefully. 

The voters, too, were disciplined and followed the Covid-19 guidelines while exercising their franchise. Though the queues moved slowly, they waited patiently for their turn, in expression of their faith in the democratic process. Impressed with the turnout, BJP State president Bandi Sanjay Kumar said the increased poll percentage will favour their party candidate, M Raghunandan Rao. 

The TRS has fielded S Sujatha, widow of incumbent Ramalinga Reddy who recently died of a cardiac arrest, the BJP nominated M Raghunandan Rao and the Congress C Srinivas Reddy, who joined the grand old party after the TRS had denied him a ticket. 

Meanwhile, the police beefed up security to prevent any untoward incident in the wake of the clashes between the TRS and the BJP workers in Siddipet on Monday night. At Arepalli, TRS activists stormed a polling station to which Congress workers took exception and tried to stop them. 

At Kasulabad in Mirdoddi mandal, they used mild force to disperse clashing Congress and TRS activists. Barring these two incidents, there was no major trouble anywhere in the constituency.Voters began arriving at polling stations as soon they opened at 7 am and by noon a turnout of 34.33 per cent was recorded. 

This went up to 55.52 per cent by 2 pm, 71.1 per cent by 4 pm and 82.61 per cent by the end of the exercise. Siddipet Collector Bharati Hollikeri and CP Joel Davis went around the constituency to ensure peaceful polling. Despite testing the EVMs in advance, nine units had developed glitches but were replaced immediately. 

CEO Shashank Goel inspected the arrangements at several villages in Dubaka and Chegunta, and sought voters’ feedback on the same. In addition to the election campaign, the three major parties, which had been making every effort to woo voters till Monday night, helped them to reach polling stations. Voters had to undergo a thermal screening, use gloves, use sanitiser and wear masks. They were also asked to maintain social distance.