Hyderabad: The police’s manhunt for YSRCP MLA Pinnelli Rama Krishna Reddy is on hold for now after the Andhra Pradesh High Court granted him interim protection from arrest till 6 June.
The sitting Macherla MLA and present contestant is accused of vandalism at a polling booth and smashing an EVM and VVPAT machine on the floor.
The incident caught on camera is the second melee involving a YSRCP MLA and candidate running amok at polling stations on election day. Tenali sitting legislator and YSRCP contestant Annabathuni Siva Kumar had slapped a voter for reportedly objecting to him jumping the queue. The voter had slapped the legislator back. The police booked Annabathuni on the Election Commission (EC) orders.
The EVM-VVPAT damage incident happened 13 May, when simultaneous polls were held in the state in one go for all the 175 assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats, but came to light Tuesday night after a tweet of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) general secretary Nara Lokesh.
The search for Pinnelli came after the EC took serious note of the incident and asked the state police chief Harish Gupta to take stringent action against the offender.
The absconding MLA first crossed over into neighbouring Telangana, reportedly taking shelter in a guest house near Hyderabad. When the police reached there, he managed to flee while some of his men were taken into custody.
Eight police teams led by a SP-level officer are looking out for Pinnelli, even as the TDP alleged that the Macherla MLA could have escaped with police connivance. Pinnelli, through his lawyers, Thursday petitioned for an anticipatory bail in the Andhra Pradesh High Court.
Lokesh posted a 50-second clip from inside the polling booth at Palwai-gate village in Macherla constituency, in which Pinnelli could be seen barging in, walking straight to one of the two polling compartments.
సొంత బాబాయ్ని, ఓటేసి గెలిపించిన ప్రజల్ని, చివరికి ప్రజాస్వామ్యాన్నీ ఖూనీ చేశాడు వైఎస్ జగన్ మోహన్ రెడ్డి. మాచర్ల నియోజకవర్గం పాల్వాయి గేట్ పోలింగ్ కేంద్రంలో ఈవీఎంని వైసీపీ ఎమ్మెల్యే పిన్నెల్లి రామకృష్ణారెడ్డి ధ్వంసం చేశాడు. ఓటమి భయంతో ఈవీఎంల ధ్వంసంతోపాటు దాడులకి… pic.twitter.com/KQGKaiQQCI
— Lokesh Nara (@naralokesh) May 21, 2024
Even as a voter was casting vote in the Lok Sabha compartment, and officials were verifying credentials of queued voters, Pinnelli picked up the EVM and smashed it on the floor, along with the VVPAT machine.
Voters exited the booth hurriedly while officials watched the rampage helplessly. However, in a quick reaction, TDP’s booth agent Namburi Seshagiri Rao rushed, rained punches on one of the MLA’s men, and confronted Pinnelli questioning the damage.
Later, Namburi told reporters that he was brutally assaulted for standing up to the YSRCP MLA.
“I demand that the Election Commission take strict action against Pinnelli, who has vandalized EVMs and attacked locals due to the fear of defeat,” Lokesh wrote on X along with the video, adding that people’s verdict on YCP faction politics will be out on 4 June.
Also Read: As post-poll violence flares up in Andhra Pradesh, EC acts — sweeping suspensions, SIT probe
With Jagan since YSRCP’s launch
Pinnelli is a four-time MLA and the government whip in the Andhra Pradesh assembly, who along with his brother Venkatarami Reddy, is known to wield influence in Macherla and also Palnadu district. The region borders Telangana.
Macharla and other parts of Palnadu, politically hyper sensitive and especially during the elections, were the worst-affected areas on the polling and subsequent days last week. The violence was on such a scale reminiscent of the turbulent 1980s and 1990s here. Pinnelli is the YSRCP president of Palnadu.
A commerce graduate from Guntur’s Andhra Christian College, Pinnelli started as a zilla parishad member from Veldurthi. He was elected to the assembly for the first time in 2009 from the Congress with Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy’s patronage. He was one of the first MLAs to side with Jaganmohan Reddy who broke away from the Congress to form the YSRCP in 2011.
Pinnelli retained his seat in the 2012 by-election held in united Andhra Pradesh following the disqualification of 18 defected MLAs. He won from Macherla in 2014 and 2019 too. During the TDP rule, Pinnelli served as YSRCP whip in the assembly.
The senior MLA is considered a close aide to Jagan, who at an election rally in Macherla on 6 May, described Pinnelli as “a dear friend” and hugged him affectionately. “He is a good man, seeking your blessings. Please elect him with a bumper majority, and I will elevate him further to a bigger position,” Jagan appealed to the voters.
YSRCP rebel-turned-TDP MLA candidate Raghu Rama Krishnam Raju and other TDP leaders are now ridiculing Jagan’s “conduct certificate” to Pinnelli.
Soon after Lokesh’s tweet, the office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mukesh Kumar Meena issued a statement that EVMs were damaged in seven polling stations, including the one where Pinnelli was caught on camera damaging the EVM.
Poll authorities handed the video footage of all such polling stations to the police to assist them in investigation. The police subsequently added Pinnelli’s name as accused.
The EC took “a very serious view” and directed Meena to inform the DGP to take strict criminal action against all the persons involved in these incidents “so that nobody in future dares to take any such action to interfere into the peaceful conduct of poll.”
Meena said the voting registered in the damaged EVM is safe. However, the MLA, booked under various IPC sections, could face a jail term of up to seven years if convicted.
On Thursday, Meena said that the suspension orders were issued for presiding and assistant presiding officers of Palwai-gate PS as they failed in reporting the episode accurately. Both TDP and YSRCP leaders are prohibited from visiting the violence-hit areas in Macherla as a pre-emptive measure to contain fresh violence.
YSRCP asks EC to act impartially
Facing the heat, the YSRCP posed “a set of questions” for the EC “in light of how the Commission dealt with the Macherla issue.” One of the queries was how the web-cam footage got leaked.
Stating that Pinnelli will deal with the charges legally, YSRCP general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy put a series of tweets on social media platform ‘X’ informing that his party has certain questions which the ECI must address
Among other queries were why the EC was not releasing all videos of seven such cases of vandalism reported from Macherla and why action was not initiated in cases where TDP goons were involved.
A set of questions to the EC in light of how the Commission dealt with the recent Macherla issue –
While Pinnelli deals with the charges legally, the @YSRCParty has certain questions which the @ECISVEEP must address.
— Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy (@SRKRSajjala) May 23, 2024
The YSRCP, which is accusing the TDP of resorting to violence, election tampering in other places, is asking the EC to act impartially. “In light of all of the above, we strongly urge the EC to take all instances of electoral indiscipline into consideration in a fair and nonpartisan manner and initiate appropriate action so that the role of the commission as an impartial umpire is upheld,” said Sajjala.
Meena said that the footage was leaked out from elsewhere during the probe and not by the poll body.
Talking to ThePrint, Lokesh lambasted the YSRCP for “questioning institutions doing their job.” The TDP leader did not disclose how he managed to get the nearly one minute-long clip.
Meanwhile, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) submitted its report to the DGP Monday its findings into the cases of violence in Palnadu, Tirupati and Anantapuram districts. It identified a total of 33 cases, eight of them in Macherla, based on the intensity of major violence on poll and post-poll days.
A total 1,370 people were cited as accused in the FIRs and among them, only 124 were arrested, noted the SIT while exhorting the investigation officers to ensure completion of pending arrest at the earliest.
Headed by Inspector General Vineet Brij Lal, the SIT noted that many of these offences are extremely serious because miscreants were brazenly involved as two groups pelted stones indiscriminately, which potentially could lead to serious injury or even death.
The SIT identified many lapses in investigation and has given clear instructions to the investigation officers for compliance at the earliest. Based on the report, the DGP directed the SPs, DIG, Anantapur & IG, Guntur to take further necessary action to complete the probe with the SIT.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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