Back to the ballot

Ahmedabad: Residents of three Gujarat villages turned their backs on polling booths complaining that basic local needs were not met.

inquiry has been ordered into why Anida under Dhandhuka constituency refused to press the button. Residents of Jakodar and Rabari in Saurashtra seat of Amreli, too, stayed away. Roads, power and water first, were their call. Only three out of about 2,000 voters exercised their franchise at Muthiya village under Kapadvanj seat to highlight their pollution woes and the politicians’ callousness.

British touch

Godhra: Peter Holland, the British high commission’s first political secretary, witnessed polling in the sensitive Polan Bazar area and other localities in the region scarred by riots two years ago. He visited nearly 50 booths, spoke to the voters and the polling personnel.

Kit for vote

Hyderabad: Cricket is the flavour of the month and free kits to the budding V.V.S. Laxmans are the way to appeal for a vote. Howzat?

But that’s a No ball, the Opposition candidates in Andhra Pradesh are crying and the umpires, who wear policemen’s fatigues in this game, are being tipped off.

Congress candidate from Tirupati Lok Sabha seat Chinta Mohan was trapped plumb before the wicket when the police seized kits emblazoned with his symbol, photos and plea to elect him.

Nalgonda, kits belonging to Desam candidate for Tungaturthi Assembly seat, S. Venkateswara Rao, were seized. A consignment for Desam’s Khammam Lok Sabha candidate . Nageshwara Rao was also intercepted.

But sports goods sellers are making merry. Kits that sold for Rs 800 are now fetching about Rs 2,000.

Hi-tech fraud

Hyderabad: Former Andhra chief minister . Bhaskar Rao returned from a booth on Tuesday without casting his vote. His name was missing from the voters’ list in the upscale Jubilee Hills area. “When I went to cast my vote, I was told that my name is not there on the list. What can you call this? A hi-tech fraud?” Rao fumed.

Veteran Telugu actor K. Satyanarayana had the same experience. Reports of angry crowds staging protests near booths not finding their names on the lists have poured in from many districts.