Officials of the Election Commission of India (ECI) have made elaborate polling and security arrangements for Thursday's Munugodu Assembly bypoll, to be conducted in 298 polling stations across the constituency.
47 candidates are in the fray, including BJP's Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, TRS's Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy, and Congress's Palvai Sravanthi Reddy. The results will be declared on Sunday, November 6.
The Munugodu bypoll has been touted as “the most costliest” Assembly constituency election in the country, as allegations spread that some party candidates were ready to offer up to Rs 30,000 cash for a single vote in hotly contested areas.
On ground observers' estimate that close to two lakh voters out of the total 2.42 lakh in the constituency would have been induced by the contesting parties with cash gifts, liquor bottles, and chicken-mutton feasts.
A rumour also spread that a national party candidate promised a tola (10 g) gold.
In a video circulating on social media, a woman could be heard telling a local functionary, “Yes, we got Rs 3,000, but where is the gold?”
Several voters that DH spoke to on Wednesday evening confirmed that they had received at least Rs 3,000 per vote from both the main parties engaged in the close contest.
“We have six votes in our family and we have received Rs 36,000 in total i.e., Rs 6,000 per head with Rs 3,000 given by one side,” P Venkatesham (30), a weaver in Ghattuppal mandal, said.
Prabhakar A, who works as a driver in Hyderabad, arrived at his village near Samsthan Narayanpur two days ahead of the day of polling. He and his wife were paid Rs 4,000 per vote by each party, including their travel expenses.
“Since I got the same amount from both parties, now I can freely vote for the candidate of my choice,” Prabhakar says.
While his friends and relatives had been enjoying the alcohol and feasts sponsored by the parties for days, Prabhakar had attended one such party arranged in Hyderabad for migrants like him.
Even as the ECI expands its campaign against voter inducement and tightens vigil to curb currency flow, the “note for vote” scourge has been spreading in Telangana. Over the last couple of years, it has become an open secret.
Some voters are now unhesitatingly going public demanding “the right price for their valuable vote.”
In a plain reminder of the Huzurabad bypoll scenes last year, some voters in Munugodu alleged that they were shortchanged by political parties, “after being promised a lot.”
In Koratikal village, a group of women came to a national party's local camp alleging unfair distribution of cash on their street. They demanded to know why the party's workers were not handing currency notes to them, when a regional party had already bestowed them with Rs 4,000 per vote.
“Everyone around our house received Rs 4,000 per vote but we did not. Is this fair? I am a mother of four girls,” a woman told a local TV news channel at the spot.
While some accuse the local party functionaries of pocketing their share of money sent by the candidate, observers say the distribution is a scrupulous affair, evaluating the voters' party affiliations etc.
An aged woman, visibly upset, said that her family with seven votes did not receive any money, “except one quarter bottle of alcohol a few days back.”