SANGAREDDY: Barring a few incidents of protest over missing names of voters in the electoral list and insistence on ID cards, panchayat elections in Medak district concluded peacefully on Wednesday. The voting, which began rather slowly in the morning, picked up as the day progressed. While Wargal mandal recorded the highest percentage of votes polled at 86, Thoguta registered the least with 55 per cent.

In Ismailkhanpet of Sangareddy mandal only 11 persons were able to caste their votes during the first one-hour and many had to return home to bring in some form of identification. While in the nearby Doultabad of Hathnoora mandal under Narsapur Assembly segment, the returning officers allowed the voters without an ID. In Sivvampet, Toopran, Chegunta, Ramayampet also voters complained that many residents of tandas did not return to vote owing to transportation problem.

Missing names

In Ghanpur of Medak mandal alone, 15 housewives whose husbands' names figured in the electoral list found their names missing. In Pavudapalli of Toopran mandal, BJP activists manhandled a TDP leader for trying to cast his vote, which they alleged was not in the voters list. Later, TDP filed a SC/ST atrocities case against the BJP leaders.

In Indrakaran village Superintendent of Police P.V. Sunil Kumar has to intervene to pacify the supporters of Prabhu Goud, the husband of MPTC aspirant Lakshmi for roughing up Sub Inspector Ganga. Prabhu's supporters forcibly took away their leader from the police station.

Cross voting

While the voting pattern and voter's enthusiasm indicate the polling in favour of Congress, many of the candidates are worried of cross voting. The winning chances of Congress ZP chairman aspirant Kranthi in Ramachandrapuram has been checkmated by cross-voting in favour of BSP candidate Balayya. Similarly, in Narsapur, a large chunk of TDP supporters voted for ZPTC candidate of Congress trading in for the victory of MPTC candidates. In Patancheru too, cross voting could turn the fortune of CPI (M) in favour of either Congress or the BJP.

Hundreds of migrant labour from the bordering Narayankhed and Kangti mandals of the district returned to their native villages to cast their votes. All the buses leading to Narayankhed were overcrowded and the determined voters even sat on the top of the buses to reach home.

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