Hyderabad: Flying squads of the Election Commission of India (ECI) searched the houses of some BRS leaders ahead of the November 11 bye-election to the Jubilee Hills Assembly seat in Hyderabad.
The election officials, with the help of Central police teams, searched the houses of former MLA Marri Janardhan Reddy and MLC T. Ravinder Rao following complaints that “cash meant for distribution among voters” was kept in their premises.
The searches were conducted at Janardhan Reddy’s house in Moti Nagar and at Ravinder Rao’s house in Rahmat Nagar.
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Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) condemned the searches at the houses of its leaders and blamed the ruling Congress party.
The BRS leaders questioned the police searches in areas where the Model Code of Conduct is not in force. They wanted to know why the searches were conducted only at the premises of the leaders of the opposition party.
The BRS leaders alleged that the Congress government has unleashed a reign of terror to win the bye-election.
Janardhan Reddy told reporters after the search at his house that the Election Commission officials found no money. He alleged that the Congress party is resorting to undemocratic actions, as it is afraid of defeat.
Janardhan Reddy said that A. Revanth Reddy is the only Chief Minister who addressed as many as 13 corner meetings for a bye-election.
“The Congress has no faith in democracy, and that is why it is resorting to intimidation of political rivals,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hyderabad in-charge minister and Congress leader Ponnam Prabhakar dismissed the allegation of the BRS. He said the flying squads work under the Election Commission, and they may conduct searches anywhere.
A delegation of BRS leaders will be meeting Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar in New Delhi on Friday evening. A delegation led by BRS parliamentary party leader K. R. Suresh Reddy will meet the CEC.
The BRS has already sought the ECI’s intervention to ensure a free and fair bye-election.
In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner on Thursday, the BRS demanded the deployment of central forces throughout the constituency for the November 11 bypoll.
Suresh Reddy sought deployment of central forces and preventive measures against mass rigging, fake identity card creation, booth capturing and intimidation by the Congress party and its candidate Naveen Yadav.
The BRS leader urged the ECI to install CCTV cameras and live webcasting systems in all polling stations under central monitoring.