Pulivendula municipal elections were overshadowed by competing allegations of violence, intimidation and polling irregularities on Sunday, with TDP MLC Varla Ramaiah accusing the YSR Congress Party of orchestrating unrest and YSRCP president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy demanding a repoll over alleged booth capturing and voter intimidation.
Ramaiah made his allegations in a press release and while addressing the media at the TDP Central Office in NTR Bhavan. He claimed that YSRCP leaders had brought outsiders into Pulivendula overnight in cars and tractors to cast bogus votes, and that some vehicles were set on fire after police intercepted the alleged attempts.
The TDP leader said the incidents were a planned effort to disrupt polling and create panic. He also alleged that mobs armed with rods and sticks engaged in stone-pelting in parts of the town. These claims were made as the YSRCP faced what Ramaiah described as a likely defeat in its long-held political stronghold.
Ramaiah further credited the administration of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and the Election Commission with creating conditions in which voters could reach polling stations without fear. He said men, women and elderly voters had been turning out from 7 am, describing the polling as a major shift in Pulivendula’s electoral environment.
The TDP MLC also rejected Jagan’s reported claim that he had been denied permission to land a helicopter. According to Ramaiah, the District Collector had cleared the landing schedule through official communication with Jagan’s personal staff. Ramaiah alleged that the former chief minister had instead hovered over the area to monitor the situation and build a political narrative. The claim was not independently established in the supplied report.
Jagan, meanwhile, demanded repolling in Pulivendula, alleging large-scale electoral malpractice, booth capturing and intimidation of voters. He claimed that YSRCP polling agents had been forcibly removed from nearly 70 of the 80 polling booths and said he was taking the affected agents to the Returning Officer to question how polling could continue without opposition representatives.
The YSRCP president alleged that TDP workers dragged its polling agents out of stations and that police personnel supported the ruling party. He also claimed that TDP workers occupied booths from 4 am, prevented voters from entering polling stations, threatened women and forcibly took voter slips. Jagan further alleged that the YSRCP chairperson candidate, identified in the report as Pramilamma, was attacked and that polling agent Sunanda suffered a fractured hand.
The competing accounts place the conduct of the municipal election, the protection of polling agents and the response of local officials at the centre of the dispute. The supplied report does not include an independent account from the police, the District Collector, the Returning Officer or the State Election Commission confirming either side’s allegations.
Ramaiah appealed to police, revenue officials and election staff to continue their duties, saying they had the backing of the law and the State Election Commission. Jagan’s demand for repolling and the allegations raised by the YSRCP leave the next formal response with the election authorities and the Returning Officer.
