Nominees supply biryani, booze

Hyderabad/Tirupati

March 28: Biryani packets, liquor bottles and cash were distributed freely to the massive crowd which accompanied the minister for health insurance, Ms G. Arunakumari, when she filed her nominations at Chandragiri town on Saturday.
Over 15,000 people were roped in to make the nomination a gala event and police also helped out by diverting traffic. The crowds were shipped into the town in hundreds of vehicles by Congress leaders but they grew restive by about 10.30 am and threatened to leave if they were not given the promised gifts.
Following this, food liquor and cash were distributed. The men were given Rs 100 each and the women Rs 50 each. Ms Arunakumari arrived at around 11 am and reached the tehsildar office to file her nomination in a grand procession from the Nagalamma temple. Later, she addressed the gathering at Kothapeta junction and said only the Congress had the moral right to demand votes from the people.
There was huge rush in the offices of the returning officers across the state after prominent candidates of all political parties rushed to file nomination papers on Saturday, an auspicious day.
“A total of 118 candidates for Lok Sabha and 1,021 candidates for Assembly constituencies filed their nominations on Saturday,” said the chief electoral officer, Mr I.V. Subba Rao. “Another 12 candidates for Lok Sabha and 75 candidates for Assembly also filed papers for the second phase of polls.”
Among the prominent candidates who filed nominations were the PCC president Mr D. Srinivas, the TRS president, Mr K. Chandrashekar Rao, the home minister, Mr K. Jana Reddy, and the BJP leader, Mr Bandaru Dattatreya. Meanwhile 17 nominations have been filed for the 13 Assembly constituencies on the first day of the nominations which began Saturday in Krishna district in Vijayawada. No nominations were filed for the Tiruvuru, Nandigama and Pamarru assembly constituencies and also for Machilipatnam and Vijayawada Parliamentary constituencies sources said. In Ongole minister of state for health and family welfare, Ms Panabaka Lakshmi, filed her nomination for Bapatla (SC) parliamentary constituency as congress candidate.