By polls scheduled for March 18 have turned blessing in disguise for the voters in AP. While the distribution of largesse to the voters from various political parties is yet to pick up in the constituencies in the Telangana region, a festive atmosphere has emerged in the Kovur constituency of the Nellore district with the main contesting parties Congress, YSR Congress and the TDP competing with each other to buy voters.

The three parties have made arrangements to spend more than Rs.20 Cr each to have victory, according to reports emanating from the constituency. The voters are being promised money directly into their accounts so that the distribution would not be spotted by any one especially by police and the election officials.

Unlike the 2009 elections in which some parties felt they had been cheated by voters after taking money, the parties have upgraded their method of extracting votes from the voters. Voters who take an oath at the temples are being promised to be rewarded with Rs.1000 each per vote.

Not satisfied with this distribution, the parties are promising development fund to some villages on the condition that the entire village should vote for them. This is mostly seen in the fishermen villages of Vidavaluru and Indukurpet mandals.

In some places, the parties are collecting the details of bank accounts from voters so that they can directly transfer the amounts into their accounts. This way no authority will find out the withdrawal details of large amounts of cash from banks.

While the YSR congress party candidate Mr Nallapureddy Prasanna Kumar reddy is ahead in the distribution of largesse to the voters, the TDP stands second followed by the congress as on today. (J)