The Munugode bypoll has exposed the murkier underbelly of electoral politics where alcohol and money power ruled and while the more “resourceful” candidates or political parties have the real clout, the lesser parties who cannot match them are left on the wayside.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on Monday that the Election Commission of India (ECI) must conduct a probe on the bypoll after their candidate Palvai Sravanthi could muster only 24,000 votes and lost the security deposit. But then Congress, which is not in power either at the Centre or the state, was never in the race simply because it lacked resources.

Similar was the case of BSP which garnered some 4,000 votes although retired IPS RS Praveen Kumar who heads the Telangana unit of the party had camped in Munugode for weeks. There were also some three dozen independent candidates mostly backed by the rival political parties to cut votes in a closely contested election. Munugode in the Nalgonda district was once a Left bastion. Today, Left parties no longer field candidates because smaller parties simply cannot afford to fight elections. The social awareness among voters too seemed to have vanished.

Days before polling visuals surfaced of huge piles of empty liquor bottles in villages, a testimony to the free flow of alcohol and reports suggested that liquor worth Rs 200 crore was distributed and consumed. Women voters were caught on camera admitting that they have been provided Rs 5,000 each by the TRS and Rs 4,000 by the BJP. In some areas, women refused to vote on polling day because they were promised 10 gm of gold. A civil society organization, Social Democratic Forum, even complained to the ECI to stop the counting, cancel the election at Munugode and announce a fresh schedule.

“We fought with honesty and integrity. Palvai Sravanthi is a very brave woman. But we could not tackle the challenge posed by money and alcohol. The Election Commission should probe the flow of money and alcohol,” said Ramesh.

He went on to add: “Today it is Munugode, tomorrow it will be the rest of the 118 constituencies. It is shameful the way money and liquor have been used. We are bound to lose security deposits when you have such strong resourceful candidates.”

Interestingly, both TRS and BJP had urged voters to pocket the money offered by the rival camps but cast their votes to their respective parties.

Ramesh pointed out that Telangana has the highest expenditure per Assembly or per Parliamentary seat although political analysts and historians may point fingers at his own party for showing the way. “Telangana election is all about contracts and contractors. This has become politics of the contracts, by the contracts, for the contracts. Expenditure in Elections in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh is among the highest in the country,” he added.

Munugode election held up a mirror to the society reflecting the future of electoral politics in Telangana. And it does not look pretty.