Hyderabad: Telugu Desam Party MP JC Diwakar Reddy on Monday said that every party in Andhra Pradesh buys votes and the going rate for a single vote in this election was Rs 2,500. All the parties, including the TDP, had together spent at least Rs 10,000 crore in the recent Assembly and Lok Sabha polls, he said.
Such a comment coming from a senior leader of the ruling party has sparked a row in the state. The state went to polls 10 days ago.
“The elections were held on April 11. The position is such that people ask money when we go for campaign. – they say the other party has given us 2000 rupees, so you give us 2500 rupees. At least 50 crore have been spent by each party in their constituency. A total of at least 10,000 crore has been spent by all parties - everyone is to be blamed. Where is this money coming from- it is money from corruption,” Diwakar Reddy told the media on Monday.
Reddy is the sitting MP from Ananthapur constituency, one of the districts with heavy cash flow during elections. It is also prone to violence. His son, JC Pavan Reddy, had contested the Lok Sabha election this time around.
“I do not want to accuse one particular party. I am telling you all the parties in the state have spent at least 50 crore per constituency. The rate per vote in Andhra is 2000-2500 rupees,” Reddy told News18.
He further said that in constituencies dominated by daily wage labourers, the rate that is being demanded by people is Rs 5,000 per vote.
Andhra Pradesh was one of the states where the Election Commission had seized the most amount of unaccounted cash in the run up to the election. In the month after the election dates were announced, about Rs 116 crore in cash was seized by the poll panel. The value of the seizures crosses Rs 200 crore if the the value of unaccounted for gold, silver and liquor is also included.
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