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The first phase polling in the State is over and different political parties and their affiliated dailies predicted that voters’ mandate went in their favour. They are making their own calculations based on their own source of information. Though internally they know in which way the voters’ verdict would be, they are putting up a brave face.
Sakshi, predictably, has predicted that the Congress would not get less than 100 assembly seats out of 154 which went to polling in the first phase. To support its stand, it highlighted the “victory celebrations” of the Congress workers at Gandhi Bhavan. Eenadu and Andhra Jyothy gave clear edge to Mahakootami. In fact, Eenadu’s banner headline “Maha Tadakha” speaks for itself. However, the highlight of the day was Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s controversial comment on Telangana during his Nandyal rally. It kicked up a wide debate all over the state and people are discussing whether YSR is justified in making such a statement. Especially his comment that the people of Rayalaseema would be treated as “foreigners” in Hyderabad if Telangana state is formed, is a clear indication to YSR’s strategy to provoke anti-Telangana sentiment in the other two regions and get maximum benefit to the Congress. But one would definitely ask why the Congress has promised formation of Telangana in its manifesto and even appointed a committee to look into it. It is yet to be seen whether his comments would be of any help to the Congress in the second phase.
Both Eenadu and Andhra Jyothy made every effort to project YSR in the bad light in the wake of his comment on Telangana; while Sakshi gave it a different twist, quoting YSR as questioning whether the Telugu Desam was treating the people of Rayaseema as foreigners by joining hands with the TRS. However, his speech, repeatedly being telecast in the channels, clearly shows that YSR was opposing the Telangana state.
All the dailies, however, have given full marks to Chief Electoral Officer I V Subba Rao and the police chief A K Mohanty for conducting a peaceful and by and large fair polling in the first phase.
The Praja Rajyam said it would win 70 Assembly and 12 Lok Sabha seats in the first phase of polls.
The PR vice-president, Mr T. Devender Goud, on Thursday night said: “We did extremely well in the first phase.
The results will be surprising. The PR would sweep the polls in Telangana and north Andhra regions, which went for elections in the first phase.”
Mr Goud was addressing a media conference in the PR’s central office Along with the PR spokesperson, Mr P. Mitra, in Hyderabad on Thursday night.
Meanwhile, the BJP is hopeful of winning 13 Assembly and three Lok Sabha seats in the first phase of elections. The party leaders said BJP’s emergence as a Telangana icon has helped it.
The BJP spokesperson, Mr N. Rama Chandra Rao, said: “TRS sympathisers also voted for the BJP in Karimnagar and Mahbubnagar.
The overwhelming response is going to help us win good number of seats in Telangana region.”
April 16 (IANS) Over 65 percent of 31.2 million electors Thursday cast their votes in the first phase of elections in Andhra Pradesh where ballotting was held for 22 Lok Sabha and 154 assembly constituencies.
Barring minor incidents of violence, the polling remained peaceful. No radical leftwing violence was reported from any part of the state, once a stronghold of the Maoist movement in the country.
Polling ended at 4 p.m. However, in some polling booths officials allowed those standing in the queue to cast their votes even after the scheduled time.
The state’s Chief Electoral Officer I.V. Subba Rao told reporters this evening that polling was still on in 300 to 400 polling centres as authorities extended the timing in view of the delay caused in the morning due to technical snags in electronic voting machines (EVMs).
He said 65 percent of the 31.2 million voters, half of them women, cast their votes, sealing the fate of 2,148 candidates including 315 for the Lok Sabha.
The final poll percentage will be known after 9 p.m., he said.
The Medak Lok Sabha constituency recorded highest poll percentage of 75 while Hyderabad recorded the lowest at 54 percent.
“The polling was peaceful and smooth except for an incident in the Nagarkurnool Lok Sabha constituency,” he said.
Hyderabad and nine other districts in Telangana as well as three districts of north coastal Andhra bordering Orissa went to polls in the first phase.
The ruling Congress party and the four-party alliance led by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) are locked in a neck-and-neck battle in the first phase. The Praja Rajyam Party of superstar Chiranjeevi is the third major political force.
Among the prominent Lok Sabha candidates are central ministers S. Jaipal Reddy, Renuka Chowdhury and D. Purandareswari, Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhara Rao and state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Bandaru Dattatreya.
In the Alampur assembly segment of the Nagarkurnool Lok Sabha constituency in Mahbubnagar district, villagers attacked polling stations and damaged EVMs. The polling had to be stopped in 17 polling centres. The incident occurred in Aiza area where people were protesting their inclusion in the Alampur constituency in the delimitation process.
Subba Rao said the matter was referred to the Election Commission, which will take a decision on re-poll in these booths.
Re-poll is also likely in a few other booths where the poll officials failed to operate EVMs as per the guidelines or committed some mistakes.
Clashes between activists of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) were reported in some places in the Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency. There were reports of similar clashes between Congress and TDP activists in some constituencies. The polling, however, was not affected.
More than 60,000 policemen and 123 companies of paramilitary forces were deployed as part of the massive security arrangements.
Though the Maoist movement has considerably weakened in the state, police are on high alert, especially in areas bordering Chhattisgarh and Orissa.
Four helicopters were put on standby to ferry men and material as a precautionary measure but they were not used.
TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu, Chiranjeevi and his family members, CEO Subba Rao, Director General of Police A.K. Mohanty and several others cast their votes in Hyderabad.
Popular actor and TDP star campaigner ‘Junior NTR’ came to a polling station on a stretcher and cast his vote. The star, who was injured in a road accident, reached the centre in an ambulance.
The second phase of polls April 23 will cover 20 Lok Sabha and 150 assembly constituencies in south coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema.
Counting will be taken up May 16.
Re-polling is likely to be held only in 20 polling stations, where polling could not be held either due to minor clashes or non-functioning of electronic voting machines.
Chief Electoral Officer I V Subba Rao said there was absolutely no disturbance from Maoists this time. Polling was suspended in 14 polling stations at Aiza village of Nagarkurnool LS constituency in Mahabubnagar district, as a large section of voters boycotted polling in protest against inclusion of the village in Alampur constituency. They clashed with other section of voters who were standing in queue for voting and destroyed the EVMs.
The fear of cross voting and confusion over electoral symbols now haunts all major political parties in the state. Reports gathered from party sources by the Congress, the Telugu Desam, the TRS and the Praja Rajyam on the voting pattern in 154 Assembly and 22 Lok Sabha constituencies indicate largescale cross voting in many districts.
The last minute alliance between the TD and the TRS confused voters over the electoral symbol. Both the TRS and the Td fielded candidates in several constituencies despite electoral alliances. In these places the symbols of both the parties, car (TRS) and cycle (TD) were printed on electronic voting machines.
In the Secunderabad Parliamentary constituency both the TD and the TRS candidates are in fray “officially”, though both are part of the Mahakutami or the political grand alliance. Voters who wanted to support the Mahakutami were confronted by car and cycle symbols, making it difficult for them to choose between the two. Since the state Assembly and Parliament elections are held simultaneously, political parties fear that voters might have supported different candidates for Assembly and LS seats. Reports from Warangal indicate that it was a Herculean task for the Mahakutami members to tell the voters to cast their votes for the TRS in Warangal (SC) Lok Sabha and CPI candidate in Mahbubabad (ST) Lok Sabha seats. In many places it resulted in a lot of confusion.
In Palakurthy constituency, many TD supporters cast their votes thinking that they were voting for the TD candidate Mr Errabelli Dayakar Rao. But as the first EVM was that of the Lok Sabha candidate, they had inadvertently voted for the TD’s rebel Lok Sabha candidate, Mr Dommati Sambaiah, who got the cycle symbol. And later, most of them voted for the Congress nominee thinking that they were voting for the Lok Sabha candidate. But it was the Assembly candidate, Mr Dugyala Srinivasa Rao, who they voted for.
There was similar confusion in Station Ghanpur where the TD’s candidate, Mr Kadiam Srihari, is contesting against the Congress nominee, Mr T. Rajaiah.
There was a time when Murali Mohan was rarely seen except for the roles that he did in movies. It has been said that he was more of a low profile person and preferred to stay away from limelight. However, all that has changed now and that too for some real good reasons.
Nowadays, Murali Mohan is coming on Zee Telugu dance shows, public dos, meets etc and has been speaking to the media quite often. Given the fact that he has got into politics, many say that Murali Mohan has realized the need to make his presence felt whenever possible.
Right now, he has got a keen fight on his cards on the 23rd when he takes on Undavalli Arun Kumar from one end and rebel star Krishnamraju from the other for the Rajahmundry Parliament seat. It appears that all this public appearances will help Murali Mohan generate some mileage.
When it comes to gossips and rumors on print media, it has always been known as yellow journalism but then a new definition is coming for it. While the debate is on about that, here is an interesting story that can perhaps define it in a better way.
It is known that Jr NTR has been recuperating from a serious accident. So there was an article that came in the Surya paper which said that this was the result of a Kshudra pooja that took place at Thrissur in Kerala, which we already reported. The process is said to be called Kalabhairava Aghora Pooja but then all this was labeled as ‘Yellow Journalism’ by those who opposed the Surya article.
However, there are those who say that it is not yellow journalism, it is creative journalism. Something similar happened in the Sakshi issue when they came up with the videos of Chandrababu Naidu and his statements on KCR. So folks, it is no more ‘Yellow Journalism’, it is ‘Creative Journalism’.
A person from Surya News Daily said off the record, “It is time where people need some idea to think and discuss. Almost all news dailies are working on the same. Sakshi, Eenadu, Andhra Jyothy or Surya…the motive happening to be same. Although some news happens to be false, it is thought provoking element that is required. Hence we cannot call every fiction, as yellow journalism. It is creative journalism”.
With so much happening in the PRP camp, many are breathing a sigh of relief that the elections have come or else one would not know what more things would have happened. The major aspect going against megastar Chiranjeevi and his party has been the dissidence factor from the rebels.
Things have taken a bad shape now with many from the Kapu community not happy with the way PRP has been functioning. News has been arriving from the strongest forte East Godavari where the Kapus are said to have developed an anti-feeling for the party and are looking at getting it defeated.
The reasons for all this are the rebels those failed to get tickets to contest. With the dissidence factor transforming into hatred, it must be said that Chiru is walking on a tight rope this time
Within a few minutes of completion of polling in Telangana region in the first phase on Thursday, Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy made a controversial remark against separate Telangana state.
At an election rally in Nandyal on Thursday evening, YSR said it would be disastrous for Andhra settlers, if the Telangana was formed. “If the grand alliance wins this elections and forms Telangana state, settlers from Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions in Hyderabad would become foreigners,” the Chief Minister said, obviously to hit the Telugu Desam below the belt in the non-Telangana regions, going to polls in the second phase on April 23.
TRS leader T Harish Rao said his party would complain to the Election Commission. “If it was YSR’s view and he had the courage to stand by it, he should have made this statement before the first phase polls. Making such statement after the polls shows his timidity and double standards, “he said
For quite few days onwards the fight between SAKSHI and EENADU reaches to worst case.
Both are commenting equally on both parties. People in andhra really fed up with both these news papers and they are interested to watch the Hindu or DC or times of india and few telugu papers Vaartha, Prabha are been watched by most viewers......
Look at the Sakshi paper comparison between YS vs BABU....
The truth is people lost there interest towards papers in Andhra...
Praja Rajyam Party president Chiranjeevi appears to have lost the track in his race to claim power in the elections.
Apparently coming to know that the chances of he ascending the CM’s throne are extremely bleak and that he would end up being the poor third, Chiranjeevi has gone dull in his election campaign and lost the sting in his speeches. He is just going about in a routine manner; sometimes, cancelling even two or three meetings. Right now, he is focussing all his energies in Coastal Andhra so that he can at least salvage his prestige by winning handsome number of seats.
Field reports say the PRP may not bag more than three or four seats in Telangana and another four or five seats in north coastal Andhra. The only hope for him is Godavari districts, but there, too, the Mahakootami is said be giving a tough fight. A sensitive person that he is, Chiranjeevi, is finding it difficult to swallow criticism. One has to se how he shapes up his future after the elections.
We have two major political parties, Congress and TDP. They each have undisputed leaders. One is YSR and the other is CBN. YSR says he will take full responsibility for the results, win or lose. Even though his party has a central command in New Delhi, he declares all his Assembly and Loksabha candidates 10 days before the nomination date and goes on a positive campaigning on his own. He dares people to compare what he has done in the past five years versus the nine year rule of TDP and CBN and decide who they want to vote for. He is the main campaigner for his party and he does not depend on any movie stars. He is the headlight and everyone else is a sidelight. In contrast, CBN kept on saying his party will win because of Nandamuri yuvasimhalu (eg Balayya, Jr NTR, Harikrishna, Kalyanram and Tarakaratna) and in the process he becomes a sidelight and others become the leading lights. It is a strange scenario where yuvasimhalu of Nandamuri clan guaranty the implementation of various schemes proposed by CBN. None of them even contest in elections and none would be part of a possible government, if TDP comes to power but they guarantee all the schemes. And it is even stranger when one thinks that they are guaranteeing a man who was Chief Minister of a state for nine years. And let me put this in a different way here again, some movie stars (one who shot his business partners in his home and claimed insanity not to go to jail, one who drove while drunk and got in to an accident, one who does not even have one hit movie in his career) guaranteeing us of a man, who comes in to a party and dethrones the founding father of that party and changes alliances and friends like dirty underwear on a daily basis!
Balayya keeps saying there is no Law & Order in the state. What he does not understand is that the same problem made him escape 20 years of jail when he shot Bellamkonda and co. But for Purandheswari, Balayya would have been campaigning amongst convicts of a central jail.
KCR has made lot of money from CBN to have an alliance with TDP. Then he sold TRS tickets to people who never even participated in the movement thinking that any dog will win in this sweep of Mahakutami. He thought he would make money, wins seats for himself, his son, and son-in-law and in the process he makes lot of money and he will have MLAs and MPs that would be faithful to him. He would become a Central Minister and his son would become Deputy CM. What a masterstroke right? But things have gone down the drain. Now he seems to be losing in Palamur along with his son in Sircilla. So KCR is a disappointed man as he only got money and not power. In the process, he is screwing TDP and CBN. CBN may go crazy after the elections and you are all advised not go any where near him.
Nandamuri yuvasimhalu (I do not know how they are but) keep talking about Vamsam, Paurusham & stuff. They keep claiming as if the state is their estate. Who gave them the right? After all these are the same people who back-stabbed NTR, made people thro cheppals at him and now claim heritage from him. Shameful behavior. Not a lot of people can do it. May be you need have these kind of qualities to become simhalu?
Every one knew CBN and Billy Rao were hand and glove. Only thing that happened with this sting operation of Billy Rao was that it was proved beyond doubt with a video. There is nothing new with CBN corruption and behavior.
Any guesses why TDP gave away a strong seat like Kukatpally to TRS? Kukatpally has 80% settlers from Andhra and out of which there are more than 60% kammas. How come TDP would allot the seat to TRS, which is known for settler bashing? Because there is plot for making Jayaprakash Narayana, who is kamma to win. Who made this deal? It is none other than our Picklesman, Ramoji Rao. But you know what? It wont happen and Congress will win in Kukatpally, as lot of non-kammas came to know of this plot.
Here is a riddle. For example (just an example – do not jump on me as how only Congress and TDP win all the seats), Congress and TDP wins 146 seats each in these elections and two seats go to Loksatta. Who do you think JP will support to form the government? He will support TDP and it is not because CBN is less corrupt or anything but because of caste. JP belongs to the same caste as CBN and CBN belongs to the same caste as Ramoji, who is the kingmaker with in that caste!
Whenever he is in coastal Andhra as part of electioneering, Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy is targeting mainly Praja Rajyam Party president Chiranjeevi, rather than his bete noire N Chandrababu Naidu.
YSR, while highlighting the achievements made by his government on the irrigation front, took strong exception to Chiranjeevi’s remarks against Jalayagnam. He wondered whether the PRP president knew the difference between irrigation and agriculture.
“Chiranjeevi seems to be in a lot of confusion and panic, after his party leaders started deserting him one after the other. All these days, he knew only acting and dancing with heroines, singing duets. The PRP is not a party of people; it is a party of confusion,” YSR criticised.
The Praja Rajyam Party has been going through some doldrums situations right now. While the oppositions have never considered PRP as their opponent, one man is said to be having a great time. He is none other than Darsakaratna Dasari Narayan Rao.
It is known that Dasari created quite a stir with his ‘Mestri’ and though there were denials it was looking like Chiru was the main target. Though those efforts failed, it looks like things happened by itself and now Dasari is said to be on cloud nine with the way PRP has been struggling.
The wind for election victory right now is blowing towards Congress and Dasari has double reason to be happy since he is a staunch Congressman. And if by any chance, Chiranjeevi or PRP fails to get a decent score in it, and then it won’t be a surprise if he might come up with a celebration, say inside sources.
Believe it or not, it cost Rs 1.5 lakh for Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhara Rao to cast his vote.
KCR, who was campaigning in Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha constituency from where he is contesting, had to flow in helicopter to his native place Chintamadaka of Siddipet mandal in Medak district, where he was registered as voter. He came by road up to Hyderabad International Airport and from there, he took a helicopter to go to Chintamadaka and cast his vote. Later, he flew back to Mahbubnagar.
The cost of heli-hopping and making arrangements for landing of helicopter at Chintamadaka was to the tune of Rs 1.5 lakh, party sources said.
Telugu Desam Party official spokesperson and MLC Nannapaneni Raja Kumari was pelted with stones by some unknown miscreants while she was electioneering in East Godavari district on Wednesday night.
A stone hit her forehead and she felt unconscious. She was immediately shifted to a private hospital by party workers where she was administered first-aid.
One wondered who must have hit Nannapaneni, as nobody would take her seriously. Though she said it was the handiwork of some Praja Rajyam Party activists, a TDP leader in the NTR Trust Bhavan remarked, off the record, that the stone pelting was done by some locals who felt her speech very boring.
“When she speaks, it would be irritating even to the TD workers. No wonder, the locals had lost their patience,” the TD leader remarked.
EC IV Subba Rao said that 12% polling was recorded in entire state in the first two hours. It has been observed earlier that the queues at polling booths will be formed only afternoon but this time many are coming to vote in first few hours it self. It is a positive sign and many are saying that maximum percentage of votes will be recorded this time. The law and order is also strong in almost all the polling booths and the enthusiasm of people to vote is also observed in big way.
'WATER-INK' In Kukatpally Polling Booth No-301
This the latest news shared by a voter from Kukatpally constituency (polling booth no-301). He was marked an ink dot on his forefinger but that was disappeared as and when rubbed off.
He said, “That is a very cheap ink mixed with water”.
He also said that some names are written twice in the list inside and there is every chance for many voters to vote again and again as the ink is also disappearing. He said that it is giving chance for multiple voting which has to be checked by Election Commission.
Akkineni Nagarjuna, Amala and Naga Chaitanya had cast their votes at Jubilee Hills. Naga Chaitanya said that it is first time for him to vote and felt very thrilled. Nagarjuna said that everybody should vote. Dasari Narayana Rao voted along with his wife and said, “Polling Day antey holiday kaadayya- vote undi veyyakunte desadrohamenayya’. He asked everyone to come out and vote and also expressed happiness that there are long queues and hence the voting percentage will be more this time.
On the other hand Jr NTR came to vote lying on stretcher.
Chiranjeevi came along with his wife, eldest daughter and elder son in law to vote in Jubilee Hills.
Polling in the first phase of elections to Lok Sabha began on a moderate note today during which the fate of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, BJP's Murli Manohar Joshi and Yashwant Sinha and TRS president K Chandrasekar Rao will be decided.
Voting began this morning in 124 constituencies spread across 15 states and two union territories in the first round of the five-phase elections and would end at 1700 hrs in most places, except in naxal-infested areas where it would close at 1500 hrs.
Over 14.31 crore voters are eligible to cast their ballot today across 1.85 lakh polling stations set up by the Election Commission and secured by tens of thousands of police personnel.
Elections to 154 Assembly segments in Andhra Pradesh and 70 in Orissa are also being held today.
While all 20 seats in Kerala, 11 in Chhattisgarh and two each in Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya are going to polls in a single phase today, polling is being held in 13 out of 40 seats in Bihar, 16 out of 80 in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra 13 (48), Andhra Pradesh 22 (42), Jharkhand 6 (14), Orissa 10 (21), Assam 3 (14), Manipur 1 (2) and Jammu and Kashmir 1 (6).
The lone seats in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Mizoram and Nagaland are also covered in the first phase.
Finally, the time has come that the entire state and all the NRIs across the world have been waiting for. The Elections- 2009 is all set to begin in just few hours and it is holding a lot of significance as there is said to be a three dimensional battle this time.
As per the latest surveys and opinion polls, Congress has been leading in the front and it is closely followed by Mahakootami. Then there is Praja Rajyam party which has eaten into the vote banks of the first two and following them are the other parties like the BJP, Lok Satta etc.
The areas of focus during the first phase of elections are Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and Telangana regions with 154 assembly and 22 lok sabha constituencies. Even the city of Hyderabad will witness the polling and it must be said that an air of tension, excitement and competition is right now on. Good luck to all parties.
