Liquor and money are pass©, YSRC-backed candidate distributes Tirupati laddu

TIRUPATI: As the fourth phase of elections for office-bearers of village panchayats, scheduled for next Sunday, gains momentum, candidates have been busy wooing voters one way or the other.

Leaving aside old-fashioned baits like liquor and biryani, supporters of a sarpanch-aspirant, allegedly backed by the ruling party, in Thondavada panchayat under Chandragiri constituency, reportedly distributed ‘Srivari Laddus’ to families. In addition to this, they also used a state-owned PDS vehicle to distribute laddus to voters along with voter slips and pamphlets.

In a video that went viral on social media, a couple of persons were seen distributing laddus, packed in a bag along with voter slips and a pamphlet listing the credentials of the candidate-Mallam Deepika Reddy. They were carrying several laddu bags in the vehicle.

“Mallam Chandramohan Reddy, husband of Deepika Reddy, had sent his supporters to the village to distribute the sacred Srivari laddu prasadam to each household and appealed to the villagers to vote for his wife. This is an utter disrespect to the prasadam and a clear violation of the election code”, Uma Reddy and Sridhar Reddy, two Srivari devotees from Thondavada, said while appealing to the Election Commission to intervene and take action.

Meanwhile, when Deccan Chronicle contacted G.C. Venkateswarulu, Chandragiri tahsildar, he said “We received information from the villagers about the distribution of Tirumala laddus. Acting on the instructions of the District Collector, we initiated an enquiry and a report will be submitted to the collector for further action”, the official said.