Konda Vishweshwar Reddy moves HC for shield against namesake poll rival

HYDERABAD: BJP candidate Konda Vishweshwar Reddy on Thursday petitioned Telangana high court for a directive to Election Commission to eliminate the "unfair" possibility of voters getting "confused" by the presence of a namesake from Forward Bloc among his 42 rivals in the May 13 election to the Chevella Lok Sabha seat.
The former MP, among the richest politicians with total declared family assets of Rs 4,568 crore, is No.2 on the list of candidates that voters will see. The other Konda Vishveshwar Reddy, a resident of Karmanghat in Hyderabad, is No. 5.
The petition urges the court to direct EC to arrange the list in such a way that there are at least 10 other names between the two Kondas. "My email representation to EC in this regard still hasn't received a response," the BJP candidate said.
He said that since BJP, BRS and Congress were vying for the seat, the victory margin could be small. "Even if I lose a few votes on account of this confusion about two people with the same name, my chances of winning could be affected."
BJP's Vishweshwar Reddy included his namesake as a respondent in the case.
‘First FIR stays, later one must be quashed’
The first FIR stays and the latter one must be quashed,” advocate M Ramachandra Reddy, representing Revanth Reddy and other Congress leaders said.
The FIR by Hyderabad police was based on a complaint by BJP state general secretary G Premender Reddy.
He accused the Telangana Congress of posting a manipulated video of Shah on its X account. Shah’s original statement discussed cancelling Muslim reservations in Telangana if the BJP formed the govt and preserving SC/ST and OBC rights.
But the doctored videos suggested that all reservations would be scrapped.