Hyderabad: Police in Andhra Pradesh have arrested former YSRCP MLA Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy for allegedly grabbing and smashing to the ground an electronic voting machine (EVM) at a polling booth on May 13, when voting for simultaneous Assembly and Parliament election was in progress in the state.
Reddy, who was caught on CCTV inside the polling booth, had applied for bail after an FIR was registered against him. The High Court last week rejected his anticipatory bail and directed the police to take him into custody.
Reddy is a five-time MLA from Macherla Assembly constituency. He won on a Congress ticket in 2004 and 2009 before switching to the YSRCP and winning the 2012 bypoll. He also won the polls in 2014 and 2019 polls.
The FIR against him states that on May 13, Pinnelli vented his ire at several polling booths in the Macherla constituency after coming to know that he was lagging behind his TDP rival. It was at a polling booth in Palvaigate in Rentachintala that he allegedly damaged the EVM.
The MLA allegedly attacked TDP agent Namburi Seshagiri Rao, who tried to stop him. In his complaint, Rao alleged that Pinnelli instigated YSRCP cadres to attack TDP poll booth managers and leaders.
Reddy was named as accused in the case. Another FIR against him states that on May 14, he, along with his brother Venkatrami Reddy’s followers, created a ruckus in Karempudi village, allegedly disrupting the voting process.
Since then, he had gone into hiding, fearing that he would be arrested. He filed a bail petition in the High Court, which stayed his arrest till June 4. However, last week the court rejected his anticipatory bail, leading to him being taken into custody.
