The Election Commission has tagged Andhra Pradesh as the “most expenditure sensitive State” and not without reason. Of the Rs 232 crore unaccounted money seized by the Election Commission during last one and a half month in the run-up to the general elections, nearly half came from Andhra Pradesh.
The authorities in the State have seized Rs 105 crore so far. This startling fact came to the light during the review meeting of the Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath with the State election authorities in Hyderabad.
“It is very painful,” said the State Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwarlal.
Sampath directed the district collectors and police officials to increase the vigil to stop the flow of cash, liquor and other gifts to bribe the voters. “We have identified 101 expenditure sensitive constituencies and directed the officials to take stringent measures,” he said.
At the same time, the CEC has also warned the voters against accepting any bribe for vote. “Accepting gifts from the candidates is a crime and is punishable with one year imprisonment,” Sampat said.
Apart from increasing the number of flying squads and surveillance teams, village awareness groups are also being increased to create awareness among the voters.
In the most startling seizure, the authorities caught former Minister K Parthasarathi’s wife Kamala with Rs 45 lakh cash. She was carrying the cash from Hyderabad in a bus to Guntur. Parthsarathi is YSR Congress party’s candidate form Machlipatanam lok Sabha constituency. The authorities claimed that the money in possession of Parthasarathi’s wife was illegal.
Earlier, the authorities had seized Rs 90 lakh from a TDP candidate travelling in another bus. The officials had also caught Congress candidate from Sangareddy Assembly constituency Jagga Reddy distributing cash and other gifts to the voters.
Meanwhile, an activist lakshman Reddy, who heads the Election Monitoring Forum, said that no other candidate misuse money power in the election as Andhra Pradesh candidates. “All the parties put together spend Rs 30,000 crore in the State during the elections,” he told a Forum meeting in Kadapa.