The Tirupati Assembly segment electorate exhibited the lethargy typically associated with any urban constituency during the general elections held on Monday.
The poll percentage was the lowest at 52.37% at 5 p.m. compared to the other segments coming under the Tirupati (SC) Lok Sabha constituency and is on a par with the percentage witnessed in the last two elections. The zeal shown by the voters was quite noticeable this time, with the people forming a queue well before 6.30 a.m. at most of the polling stations in the city constituency.
While the urban areas recorded a peaceful polling, the polling stations in the rural areas in the city’s border such as Jeevakona, Muthyala Reddy Palle and Auto Nagar, witnessed frequent visits of party leaders.
Fake voters apprehended
As many as five fake voters trying to impersonate as others were held by the TDP-BJP-JSP alliance party workers in the first hour of voting, in Tirupati on Monday.
The incident happened at the polling station in the high school attached to Jaganmatha Church at Khadi Colony in the city. The ‘voters’ holding fake identity cards were moving under suspicious circumstances at an apartment close to the polling station, when the alliance workers standing guard at the spot questioned them.
When the voters tried to evade answers and run away, they were caught and handed over to the police, who found out that they belonged to Tamil Nadu, Kurnool and Renigunta respectively, and were not voters of Tirupati Assembly constituency. They were later taken to the Alipiri police station for questioning.
Alliance candidate Arani Srinivasulu rushed to the spot and demanded action on the fake voters. He accused the local MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy of ‘importing’ fake voters to get his son Abhinay Reddy elected ‘by any means’.
