HYDERABAD: The Congress presidential election saw 226 delegates out of 241 voting here on Monday.
With the exception of a few complaints from PCC delegates that their votes were invalidated, things went off smoothly. Pradesh Returning Officer (PRO) Rajmohan Unnithan informed that a total of 238 PCC delegates, apart from three AICC members, took part in the process. "The elections went off without any hitch. The results will be announced on October 19," he said.
Ponnala Laxmaiah and C. Srinivas Reddy were mentioned as voters from Jangaon and Narayankhed respectively. However, their name was not on the ballot paper when they arrived at Gandhi Bhavan to cast their votes.
Senior party members Ponnala Lakshmaiah, Damodar Rajanarsimha, and Marri Shashidhar Reddy staged a sit-in to protest the invalidation of ballots at the Gandhi Bhavan, the party's state headquarters, where polling took place. They were vehemently opposed to last-minute changes made to the voter list.
"Who has the authority to change the names now, and how can they do so? Elections are subject to laws and regulations, right? That indicates that something is wrong,” said Lakshmaiah while expressing his displeasure after Srinivas was asked to leave without casting a vote.
Rajanarasimha questioned why a leader was insulted after issuing a card and demanded an explanation for the invalidation of the votes. “The Congress leaders were invited to vote after issuing a voter ID card. However, what was the reason for invalidation of the votes? Why were the names removed from the list? Why was the voter ID card issued then,” he asked.
Shashidhar Reddy, meantime, claimed that the process was farcial because the list approved by the Central Election Authority had been tampered with. “The names of some people who were on the list disappeared. The list had other names. Even Renuka Chowdhary expressed her unhappiness with the way the entire exercise was carried out,” he said.
Uttam Jumar Reddy too voiced concerns over how the events unfolded and said he will take up the matter with the electoral officials. "I am disappointed with the way AICC presidential elections were conducted. I will take up the matter with the election authorities," he said.
Party sources claim that those who lobbied in New Delhi influenced the final list. "Letters of recommendation were given to those who took part in the election process. Some of them even had face-to-face meetings with Congress Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry. However, these changes were kept under wraps and there was also a communication gap about the changes till today," said a PCC delegate.
