Hyderabad : A candidate in the ongoing Panchayat elections in Telangana died minutes before polling began on Sunday, while a voter collapsed and died shortly after casting his vote, casting a shadow over the second phase of rural local body polls.
In Khammam district, D. Nagaraju, an independent candidate for the Sarpanch post from Anasagar village in Nelkonapalli mandal, died early Sunday morning, just minutes before polling commenced at 7 a.m. According to family members, Nagaraju had been under severe stress due to the election campaign. He fell ill on Saturday night and was admitted to a hospital, where he succumbed on Sunday morning.
In another tragic incident, a 70-year-old voter died in Ranga Reddy district after casting his vote. Solipeta Butchaiah collapsed after coming out of the polling centre in Aluru village of Chevella mandal. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead. Butchaiah’s daughter, Ramulamma, is a candidate for the Ward Member post in Venkannaguda village.
Tension was also reported from Medak district, where the husband of a Sarpanch candidate climbed atop a mobile phone tower to protest against the alleged distribution of money by rival candidates. The incident occurred in Peddatanda Gram Panchayat. Shankar Naiik, whose wife is contesting for the Sarpanch post, alleged that rival candidates were distributing ₹2,000 each to voters to influence the outcome.
The second phase of polling was held on Sunday for 3,911 Sarpanch posts and 29,917 Ward Member posts across 193 mandals. Over 57.22 lakh voters—29.26 lakh women and 27.96 lakh men—were eligible to vote to decide the fate of 12,782 Sarpanch candidates and 71,071 Ward Member candidates.
Meanwhile, an unusual incident was reported from Auravani village in Narkatpally mandal of Nalgonda district. A defeated Sarpanch candidate reportedly went door to door seeking the return of money he had allegedly distributed during the campaign. Kalluri Balaraju, who contested with the support of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), lost to Congress candidate Jakkala Paramesh by a margin of 450 votes.
Following his defeat, Balaraju reportedly visited voters’ houses holding a picture of a deity and appealing to them to swear if they had voted for him or return the money he had given. According to his wife, the money would not have been sought back had the defeat margin been narrow, around 50 or 60 votes.
