Munugode by-poll: 36 independents withdraw, 47 left in fray; 3 EVM units needed

Hyderabad: Days after filing their nomination for the Munugode by-poll, 36 independent candidates withdrew their candidature on Tuesday. A total of 47 candidates are now left in the fray. Munugode by-poll is scheduled to take place on November 3 and counting will be held on November 6.

Speaking to NewsMeter, an officer with the Election Commission of Telangana said: "Usually there are several reasons behind independent candidates filing their nomination. Few who are angry with the ruling party for non-fulfillment of their demands, file nominations as a mark of their protest and withdraw these later. Secondly, leading parties purportedly make at least 2-3 candidates file nominations because in case of any errors this candidature would come in handy. This is called a friendly nomination. Thirdly, few file nominations for monetary benefits."

Pertinently, in certain elections, political parties made their henchmen file nominations due to free access to the polling booth on the day of elections. "Nominations are filed by party henchmen only to get an entry into the polling booths as candidate's representatives are allowed to sit in the booth during elections. In the past, there were instances nonvoters cast their vote during secret balloting. Usually, senior citizens and politically active people cast their vote in the first 2-3 hours of the day. However, due to the presence of these henchmen in the polling booth, many nonvoters end up casting votes in favor of the candidate" said the officer.

He said with 47 candidates left in the fray, it necessitates 3 EVM units on the polling date. "Each EVM unit can accommodate 16 candidates," he said.

The contest is between…

With 47 candidates left in fray, the battle is actually between the TRS, BJP, and Congress. Telangana Rashtra Samithi has fielded former MLA and constituency in charge Koosukuntla Prabhakar Reddy.

BJP, after a long wait, fielded former Congress MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy from the constituency. The by-election was necessitated by his resignation on August 8. He quit Congress and joined the BJP.

Congress fielded Palvai Sravanthi. BSP led by former IPS officer R.S Praveen Kumar has fielded Shankara Chari. Shankara Chari belongs to the BC community. Munugode is part of the Bhongir Lok Sabha parliamentary constituency in the Nalgonda district. The constituency has 2,00,956 voters including 1,02,801 males and 98,146 females.

In the 2018 election, Congress candidate Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy defeated TRS candidate Koosakuntla Prabhakar Reddy. Rajgopal Reddy got 97,239 votes (48.90%), Koosakuntla Prabhakar Reddy got 74,687 votes (37.56%) votes, and BJP's Gangidi Manohar Reddy secured 12,725 votes (6.40%).

Unaccounted cash began to flow in:

Dynamic police team set up by Nalgonda Superintendent of Police Rema Rajeshwari intercepted a Tata Safari and seized Rs 1 crore cash on Monday. The cops seized the cash since it had no substantial documents.

"The person who was questioned identified himself as a BJP corporator's husband. He said he collected cash from Guntur & was taking it to Munugode. The money was being transported at the request of BJP leader and media channel owner MP Vivek Venkatswam. The team has seized Rs 1 crore and handed it over to the IT sleuths," said Rema Rajeshwari, Superintendent of Police, Nalgonda district.