KHAMMAM: Unlike the Assembly elections, many of the voters in Khammam Parliamentary constituency pressed the electronic voting machine button as per their sudden whim and fancy. This correspondent tried to find out the voter mindset on the first day of the polls.
M. Suresh, a voter in Gurralapadu, a village in Khammam Assembly segment, said, “The voters of scheduled castes and tribes saw Renuka’s decision of not distributing money to voters, in a positive light. They read her statement in a positive way and voted in her favour”
Surprisingly, no major issue is doing the rounds in the election. Many consider Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi fight as a valid one. Mr N. Narasimha Rao, a young man from Maddulapalli said that it was not correct to enrol the elected MLAs into their party. “A person, who questions, is very important in democracy,” he said.
When compared to the Assembly elections, there was no voter surge in the election. Many of them came to vote as sheer habit, without giving much thought about who to vote. T. Sarat, a young voter said, “Some votes in my village (Maddulapali) were in favour of Jana Sena.” The unity of left parties was seen in many villages and the leaders of CPI and CPM stood together and asked the people to vote for Mr Boda Venkat, CPI(M) candidate in Khammam.
An autorickshaw driver in Mudigonda in Madhira segment R. Papa Rao, said, “Ruling party leaders distributed money to many of the voters. Many have voted for the TD. The Congress candidate and its leaders had not even campaigned well."
Many of the educated voters welcomed Renuka’s decision of not distributing money to the voters.
Mr N. Ajay in Vanam Vari Krishnapuram said, “If Renuka wins in the election, it would be a miracle.”
The party leaders were making the rounds in each and every village in Wyra during poll day. Mr G. Prasad, a political activist said, “There is silent voting in the villages and a discussion on changing parties by the leaders is going on seriously.”
A small section of voters have chosen NOTA by not liking any of the contesting candidates. N Srilekha of Khammam, said, "I did not like any of the contesting candidates."
TRS leaders are confident of winning and Mr Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, an MP from Khammam, who was denied a party ticket, said, "TRS will win Khammam with good margin."
