Political Diary

For a leader seeking votes for his party in lieu of promises to look after their welfare in the next five years, it is a good example of callousness and lack of sensitivity. This besides being a violation of the model code of conduct for elections.

On Wednesday, chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy seeking votes addressed a public meeting at a ground adjoining the government school at Balkonda in Nizamabad district even as the class X board examinations were being held in the school. The chief minister entered the ground next to the Zilla Parishad High School premises at 11.35 am — 25 minutes before completion of the physics paper — and addressed the meeting for more than half an hour. Students complained about the cacophony outside their classrooms when they were writing the exam. A student, B Raju, told TOI: “The peace required when writing an exam was disturbed by the election meeting and greatly affected us.” “The noise and the leaders’ speeches were reverberating in the exam hall and badly affected our concentration. Who is going to make up for all the damage to us,” another student, Nagendar, complained. It is learnt that the local Congress leaders had sought the school management’s permission to use the open playground after completion of the exam at 12 noon, but Rajasekhara Reddy arrived ahead of the schedule. “Since Rajasekhara Reddy came in ahead of time, he went ahead and addressed the meeting. We are not sure whether he knew an exam was going on close by,” a party insider said. As per the election code, no public meetings can be held within a hundred metre radius of a school campus, if classes are on or an examination is being held. A local police official batting for the ruling party told TOI: “We had barricaded the area, but a large crowd gathered and occupied the ground very close to the school compound. Why blame the chief minister?” But miffed by the development, TRS and other political parties have lodged a complaint with the Election Commission charging the chief minister with violating the model code. Election observer Meera Srivastava, who interacted with the school authorities, said that a suitable action can be taken after conducting a comprehensive enquiry. In a related development, Telugu Desam leaders also complained to the Election Commission that the chief minister had violated the model code by using the Armoor court premises to park vehicles while addressing a public meeting in the same district.