Temples become campaign hot spots

Hyderabad, April 6: Aspirants to the Lok Sabha and Assembly are now gathering outside temples, mosques and churches to intensify their poll campaign. These places help them to meet several voters in a short span of time.

Prominent places of worship like Sri Venkateshwara Swamy temples in Liberty and Chikkadpally, Sri Shirdi Sai Baba temples in Dilsukhnagar, Amberpet, Gowl
iguda and Baghlingampally, Sri Astalaxmi temple in Dilsukhnagar and Sri Anja-
neyaswamy temples in Begumpet and Padmaraonagar and churches and mosques in Musheerabad and Secunderabad are witnessing poll campaigns.
In order to meet maximum number of voters, the contestants are visiting different temples on various days.
If they campaign near Sri Venkateshwara Swamy temples on Saturdays, they go to Shirdi Saibaba temples on Thursdays, Sri Laxmidevi temples on Fridays, and Sri Anjaneya temples on Tuesdays.
However, devotees complained that politicians are disturbing their peace. “We come here to worship and not to listen to political speeches. There should be a legislation banning poll campaigns in and around places of worship,” said Mr P. Praveen Kumar, an employee in an optical showroom.
Candidates, however, feel that these spots are one-stop places where they can find large gathering of voters.
Election officials have washed their hands off and said the existing rules do not prohibit parties from campaigning outside temples.
“As per the norms, candidates should not campaign on premises of places of worship. There is nothing wrong if they ask for votes outside the premises,” said Mr Harpreet Singh, additional chief electoral officer.
Among the prominent politicians who are campaigning near temples are the BJP candidates for Secunderabad LS seat Sabha seat, Mr Bandaru Dattatreya, and Amberpet Assembly constituency, Mr G. Kishen Reddy, are campaigning outside several temple premises to seek the voters’ support.