Hyderabad, July 09: Congress MLC Pulla Padmavati was today caught on camera while distributing sarees to poor in Warangal district in violation of model code of conduct in force for the bypolls to 12 assembly seats in Telangana region. Padmavati’s reported act of distributing sarees on the occasion of the birth anniversary of late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy was aired by some television news channels.
State Chief Electoral Officer I V Subba Rao said he had sought details from the district administration over the issue. Padmavati, however, maintained that she distributed the sarees outside a temple which was an act of charity on the occasion of Rajasekhara Reddy’s birth anniversary. “You can see in the video footage also.
It was outside a temple. If it amounted to poll code violation, I apologise for that,” she said. Meanwhile, Rao said 208 nominations have been filed today for the bypolls to 12 assembly seats thus taking the total number of nominations filed so far to 261. The number of nominations is high as many candidates who filed nominations were independents, he said. Subba Rao said the checking of EVMs by representatives of political parties ended today.
The EVMs were checked for three days and the exercise is aimed at ensuring transparency. The bypolls to 12 assembly seats in Telangana region have been necessitated as the sitting MLAs had quit in support of separate Telangana.
———PTI