Low turnout marks Andhra bypolls

HYDERABAD: Bypolls to 18 assembly and four Lok Sabha seats in Telangana on Thursday ended peacefully but were characterised by low turnouts, even as the election commission registered cases against chief minister YSR Reddy and some Telugu TV channels for violating the poll code.

State chief electoral officer IV Subba Rao said cases had been filed in Hyderabad and in 10 other districts for violation of section 126 of the Representation of Peoples Act of 1951.

“The chief minister’s press conference on Wednesday in the 48-hour no-campaign period detailing development schemes was an electoral offence,” Rao said.

Cases have also been filed against Telugu TV channels TV-9, ETV-2, NTV, TV-5 and C-TV for telecasting the press conference.

Rao said an average of 57.5% polling was recorded in the parliament segments as against 59.5% in the assembly segments.

The largest assembly segment of Khairatabad in the state capital with a record 10 lakh voters had the lowest turnout of 38%.