Despite spending Rs 2.5 lakh, Telangana man fails to cast his vote

Pudari Srinivas and his wife spent Rs 2.5 lakh on flight tickets to reach their native village from New Zealand. However, when they went to cast their votes, they found that the revised list did not include Srinivas's name resulting which, he could not exercise his franchise.

Jannaram (Telangana): A man from Telangana's Manchiryala district could not exercise his franchise even after spending Rs 2.5 lakh to reach his hometown from New Zealand.

Pudari Srinivas from Chintaguda village of Jannaram mandal in Manchiryala is working as a welder in a New Zealand based company for the last 15 years. This time, he planned his trip to his hometown during the election period so that he could cast his vote along with spending time with his parents.

Srinivas's friend had sent him the voter list on WhatsApp and it contained both his and his wife Lavanya's names. After confirming that their names were present in the voters list, Srinivas booked their flight tickets. The couple reached their village a week ago.

On the polling day yesterday, Srinivas went to booth number 296 and was surprised to find only his wife's name on the voter list. When asked as to why his name was missing from the list though he had earlier seen it there, he was informed that the current one is the revised voter list. Finally, Srinivas returned home without casting his vote.

Expressing his grief for missing out the opportunity to vote, Srinivas said he had spent Rs 2.50 lakh on airfares to come to India during this time of the year. "I had particularly come at this time so that I could vote but unfortunately, the money got wasted," he said.

Elections were held in 119 constituencies of the Telangana Legislative Assembly in a single phase on November 30. Amid tight security, voters had queued up to exercise their democratic right. The state is witnessing a three-way war between BJP, Congress and BSR, which is trying to retain power for the third consecutive term.

The election results are scheduled to be declared on December 3. The exit polls released on Thursday, predicted Congress leading in Telangana.