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Viral video: Jagan Reddy's party MLA A Sivakumar slaps voter in Andhra Pradesh polling queue, he hits back
YSRCP leader A Sivakumar is seen slapping a voter at a polling booth in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur on Monday.
Amid the polling for the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, a video of YSRCP MLA A Sivakumar slapping a voter in a polling queue at a booth in Andhra Pradesh went viral on Monday, May 13. In the video from a polling booth in Guntur, both Sivakumar and the voter can be seen hitting each other.
In the video, the Andhra Pradesh MLA walks towards the man while having a heated conversation and eventually slaps him. The voter also retaliates, slapping and punching Sivakumar. After this, the MLA's supporters start thrashing the voter.
The video was also shared by Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla, describing the action of the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's party MLA as “arrogance & goondagardi".
Posting the video on social media platform X, Shehzad Poonawalla wrote, “VVIP arrogance & goondagardi on full display. YSRCP MLA A Sivakumar slaps voter in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur. Telangana Congress neta kicks voter. Congress’ Randeep Surjewala once said Janta is Rakshas !. If this is how they are treating voters at the polling booth imagine what they will do post elections. Time to kick these parties and netas out!”
Polling for all the Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh is currently underway tat commenced at 7am. Apart from the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha polls, voting is also taking place in the state for the assembly elections.
Reports of poll violence also emerged from Andhra Pradesh earlier in the day, when the opposition party TDP accused the ruling YSRCP of kidnapping its poll agents. TDP also accused its rival party of beating up some of its polling agents, accusing of causing disruptions in the voting process.
Andhra Pradesh recorded 23.1 per cent voter turnout for the 25 Lok Sabha seats while it was 23 per cent for the 175-seat Assembly at 11 am in the state, an Election Commission app said on Monday.
Governor S Abdul Nazeer, chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu along with their respective family members, were among the early voters in Andhra Pradesh on Monday.
(With inputs from PTI)
