After municipal poll loss, candidates knock on voters’ doors to ‘reclaim’ cash, gifts

Hyderabad: A week after the municipal election results were declared, an unusual post-poll drama is unfolding across several towns in Telangana. Defeated candidates are reportedly going door to door, asking residents to return cash and gifts they distributed during the campaign.What began as quiet requests has, in many places, escalated into heated confrontations. Some videos showing some of the defeated candidates or their relatives asking for refunds have gone viral on social media, fuelling public outrage.
Despite videos going viral on social media, officials of the State Election Commission said no formal complaints regarding distribution of money or attempts to recover gifts had been received. They also insisted they had not seen the videos.Reports of clashes between candidates and residents have surfaced from Medchal Malkajgiri, Khammam, Suryapet, Peddapalli, Bhadradri Kothagudem, Jagtial and Nizamabad districts. In several instances, residents reportedly pushed back, saying they never demanded the money or gifts given voluntarily and it was not correct for these to be returned.Cookers, sarees as giftsOn the eve of polling on Feb 10, candidates in some municipalities and wards allegedly distributed between ₹2,500 and ₹3,000 for each vote in a last-minute attempt to sway voters. In addition to cash, pressure cookers and sarees were reportedly given to women voters. After losing, some candidates — across party lines as well as independents — began suspecting that certain colonies had not supported them.One clip going viral shows a man and a woman, linked to a prominent party, carrying sarees away. When voters question them, the woman is heard saying if they got one vote, the opposition got four In another video, a woman, believed to be a candidate, is seen pressuring a voter to promise that she had voted for her. After the assurance, the woman marked the voter's name on a list. Most of the videos appear to have been recorded by bystanders. In Muduchintalapalli in Medchal Malkajgiri district,a candidates allegedly visited households soon after counting day seeking repayment. In Banda Madharam ward of Yellampet municipality near Hyderabad, the husband of a defeated independent candidate reportedly asked residents either to return the money or ‘swear' that they had voted for his wife.In Aswaraopeta in Kothagudem district, another video showed a candidate asking voters to return pressure cookers worth about ₹2,500 each that had been distributed before polling. Some return willingly"Women revolted against the candidates, saying that they did not ask for cookers, and the candidate voluntarily gave them at about 10 pm on Feb 9, the day before the polling, hoping that they would vote for him. The candidate, who contested on a party ticket, lost," a local leader from Kothagudem municipal corporation said. Similar incidents were reported from Mancherial, Bhuvanagiri and Suryapet districts also. In some cases, voters returned money willingly after being approached by relatives of candidates, while others refused and challenged them to approach the police.