Officials break open strongroom in Dharmapuri Assembly constituency

Dharmapuri: Officials in Telangana's Jagtial district broke open the strongroom of Dharmapuri Assembly constituency on Sunday, as directed by the Telangana High Court. The move came in response to a petition filed by Congress candidate Aduluri Laxman Kumar, seeking a re-counting of votes polled in the 2018 elections. The district collector, along with other top officials, was present at the time of the opening. The strongroom, located at VRK College of Engineering and Technology in Nookapally village of Jagtial, had its keys missing, prompting the Election Commission of India officials to seek the High Court's direction for opening it. Officials will now submit the records pertaining to the polling percentage and votes secured by all candidates to the court. The High Court had earlier asked the Election Commission to provide CCTV footage and other records related to counting of votes. Bharat Rashtra Samithi candidate Koppula Eswar was declared elected by 441 votes, securing 70,579 votes to Laxman's 70,138. Eswar is currently a minister in the State Cabinet. Laxman had filed the petition, alleging irregularities in the counting of votes, and pointed out discrepancies during the hearing of the case in the High Court. The returning officer had reportedly said that the number of votes in all 269 polling stations was 1,65,209, accounting for 79.96% of polling. However, as per the information provided by authorities under the RTI Act, 1,65,341 votes were polled and the polling percentage was 80.02%.