Following the complaint by the CPI party, voting was stopped.
Polls for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in Old Malakpet Division 26 in Hyderabad were halted on Tuesday due to alleged discrepancies. The replay will take place in this division on Thursday. The decision to stop the elections in Malakpet was made following a complaint from the CPI Secretary of State, Chada Venkat Reddy, who alleged that her party’s symbol was replaced by another symbol on the ballot.
Addressing the media, Venkat Reddy said: “Instead of ears of corn and sickle, we have the hammer, sickle and star as symbols (symbol of the CPI (Marxist)). This is a testimony to the negligence of the Election Commission. This is outrageous. The official who did this must be investigated and appropriate action taken against him. We condemn such error and demand that the voting be stopped and that a new one be held.
The Electoral Commission considered the question raised by the CPI party “satisfactory” and announced that the 69 polling stations will vote again. The EC further said: “In view of the repetition, publication, transmission and television broadcast of the exit polls on the GHMC elections is prohibited until 06:00 pm on 03/12/2020.”
The CPI also alleged that its candidate from the Malakpet division, Firdous Fathima, was threatened by AIMIM MLA Ahmed Balala. The party demanded that the police bring a criminal case against the Malakpet legislator.
The result of the elections would be announced on December 4. More than 74 lakh voters will decide the political fortunes of 1,122 candidates fighting for the 150 divisions of GHMC. The percentage of votes has remained abysmal until noon. At 9 am, only 3.96% of voters exercised their right to vote. The GHMC has 38,89,637 men, 35,76,941 women, and 678 other voters.
Meanwhile, on election day, BJP activists stopped a car belonging to Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay in Kukatpally, suspecting that he was going to distribute cash to influence voters. A day earlier, the car of BJP State President Bandi Sanjay was attacked on Necklace Road, by TRS workers who brought the same accusation. After the attack, Sanjay claimed it was an attempt to assassinate him.
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