A special court in Hyderabad gave a rude shock to Andhra Pradesh assembly speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao on Thursday asking him to appear in person before the court in connection with his “confession” made before a television channel in June 2016.
The special court was constituted as per the directions of the Supreme Court following complaints of electoral malpractices against public representatives.
The court was inquiring into a petition filed by one Srinivasulu Reddy from Karimnagar, who brought to the notice of the court that Kodela himself had admitted to have violated the Election Commission norms with regard to election expenditure and indulged in electoral malpractices.
Kodela, a six-time MLA presently representing Sattenapalli assembly constituency in Guntur district, told a popular Telugu television channel that no politician would be able to win by spending money in the limits prescribed by the Election Commission.
“When I first contested as an MLA in 1983 on Telugu Desam Party ticket given by N T Rama Rao, I won the election by spending just Rs 30,000. But in 2014 elections, I had to spend Rs 11.50 crore,” he admitted. He lamented that corruption was going up among the politicians due to the excessive election spending but nobody was able to prevent the same.
As per the expenditure details submitted to the Election Commission, Kodela had spent only Rs 15.70 lakh in the 2014 assembly elections. But in the television interview, he openly admitted that he had spent Rs 11.50 crore.
His nearest rival in the elections and YSR Congress party spokesman Ambati Rambabu also complained to the EC to initiate action against Kodela.
As per the EC stipulations, an MLA candidate cannot spend more than Rs 28 lakh and an MP aspirant cannot spend more than Rs 70 lakh.
“More interestingly, the affidavit submitted by Kodala to the Election Commission shows the cumulative value of his assets at Rs 5.29 crore, but the election expenditure, on his own admission, was Rs 11.5 crore. He should show account for the over Rs 6 crore that he had spent in the elections,” YSRCP leader said.