Pre-Election Freebies Race Heats Up in Adilabad as Assembly Elections Loom

Adilabad: Political leaders have intensified the distribution of freebies as the notification for the Assembly elections is expected to be released very soon this month. They were making all-out efforts to induce voters before the election code came into effect.

The leaders were allegedly collecting data of phone numbers and Aadhaar numbers from the voters in their respective constituencies to use it for online money transfers to win their support in the elections.

Kandi Srinivas Reddy, a Congress ticket aspirant from Adilabad, was distributing pressure cookers to women voters while BRS MLA Jogu Ramanna and municipal chairperson Jogu Premender were luring voters with sarees and sports kits.

Srinivas Reddy alleged that MLA Ramanna and other BRS leaders, with the help of police, were obstructing him from distributing freebies, to which the latter countered that the former was creating a nuisance by erecting tents on roads and mobilising the people for publicity, causing inconvenience to commuters.

On Friday night in Adilabad town, a ruckus took place when the police took Srinivas Reddy into their custody while distributing pressure cookers at TTD Kalyana Mandapam in Housing Board Colony, following the complaints by some locals.

On the other hand, some women, who were issued tokens but not distributed the cookers, alleged that Srinivas Reddy had stopped the distribution by citing obstruction by the BRS leaders.