Hyderabad: Polling in Ward No. 26 in Old Malakpet station was halted by the presiding official after voters said the Communist Party of India’s (CPI) symbol of corn and sickle was replaced with the CPI(M) symbol of a hammer, sickle, and star on the ballot form. Firdous Fatima, the CPI candidate, brought up the complaint to the state election commission (SEC) and the polling officials, prior to the voting in the area was stopped.
Chadda Venkat Reddy, a CPI leader, said: “The AIMIM went to Firdaus Fatima and told her to withdraw her nomination. How can there be a wrong party symbol? This is a threat to democracy.”
Repolling will be led in this division on Thursday. Speaking to the media, Venkat Reddy stated: “This is atrocious. The official who did this should be investigated and appropriate action should be taken against him. We condemn such a blunder and demand that the polling should be stopped and re-polling should be conducted.”
The Election Commission found the issue brought up by the CPI party “satisfying” and declared re-polling in all the 69 polling stations.
“In view of the repoll, publication, broadcasting and telecasting of the Exit polls on the GHMC elections is banned till 06.00 pm on 3/12/2020.”
The CPI furthermore alleged that their Malakpet division candidate Firdous Fathima was threatened by AIMIM MLA Ahmed Balala. The party demanded that the police register a criminal case against the Malakpet legislator.
The election outcome would be declared on December 4. More than 74 lakh voters will determine the political fortunes of 1,122 candidates in the fray for the 150 GHMC divisions. The polling rate has stayed poor till early afternoon. As of 9 am, just 3.96 % of electors practiced their franchise. The GHMC has 38,89,637 men, 35,76,941 woven and 678 different voters.
In the interim, on polling day, a vehicle belonging to Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay was reportedly halted by BJP activists at Kukatpally, suspecting that he planned to distribute money to influence the voters. A day sooner, the vehicle of BJP state president Bandi Sanjay was attacked in Necklace Road, by TRS workers who raised a similar accusation. Following the assault, Sanjay said that it was an attempt to kill him.
