In a video going viral on social media in Andhra Pradesh, newly elected Tadipatri municipal chairman JC Prabhakara Reddy is seen plainly refusing to commit to any works or favours in a ward, accusing the locals there of taking bribes to vote.
The conversation between an elected leader and the voters on the money factor in elections could not get more candid, especially at a time when polls are taking place in various states.
“The day you vote without accepting money, you can hold my shirt collar and demand to get your things done. But you do not have that right now,” Reddy, a former MLA, can be heard telling a group of locals in a ward in Tadipatri.
While Reddy accused them of taking Rs 2,000 per vote from both the parties, one auto-driver and his wife in chat with the chairman admitted that they had in fact accepted the money, though they differed with the quantum.
The town in Anantapuram district adjoining Karnataka is the only civic body the opposition TDP managed to win, out of the over 80 municipalities and corporations in Andhra Pradesh that went to polls last month. The ruling YSRCP has swept the urban body polls.
The incident is said to have occurred on Sunday when the chairman was inspecting various wards.
The JC brothers, including former MP JC Diwakar Reddy are known for their controversial remarks.
Padmanabha Reddy, secretary, Forum for Good Governance, an NGO based in Hyderabad working against corruption and for electoral reforms, says the menace of accepting cash for vote is not limited to lower income groups.
“Some of the voters in the graduates' and teachers' MLC constituencies also accept money to vote in favour of a particular candidate. The society as a whole is in a moral degradation,” Padmanabha tells DH stressing on the immediate need to crackdown on politicians who lure the voters with money.
“But yes, of course, people should also change and start respecting their vote,” the former bureaucrat adds.
There were some instances earlier too when elected representatives like MLAs declined to honor their commitments, saying that people “did not vote them for free.” After the local body polls in Telangana last year, some defeated candidates reportedly went from house to house to retrieve their money.