People's lives were endangered while standing in line to collect tokens for the Vaikunta Dwara Sarva Darshan at the Lord Venkateswara temple. A stampede claimed the lives of six devotees and left over 30 injured.
The incident took place at MGM High School in Bairagipatteda, near the Vishnu Nivasam temple in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, on December 8.

Visuals show several individuals lying unconscious on the ground as officials from Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) and police personnel performed CPR. The crowd was enormous, leaving little room for movement. TTD officials were taking all possible measures to save the lives of the devotees.

According to reports, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which oversees temple operations, had set up special counters to distribute darshan tokens for the Vaikunta Ekadasi festival scheduled for January 9. These tokens allowed devotees to visit Lord Venkateswara and were distributed at MGM High School in Bairagipatteda, near the Vishnu Nivasam temple in Tirupati. Thousands of devotees began lining up at the counters on Wednesday morning, but by evening, the crowd became unruly, with pushing and jostling.

BR Naidu, chairman of TTD, stated that the stampede occurred at two locations when a gate was opened to assist a woman feeling unwell. The crowd surged forward all at once, leading to chaos.

Officials mentioned that the TTD had arranged for the distribution of 120,000 tokens to devotees for the “sarva darshan” (free darshan) of Lord Venkateswara Swamy for the first three days of the annual darshan, from January 10 to 12. Distribution arrangements were made at 94 counters across three pilgrim lodges — Vishnu Nivasam, Srinivasam, and Bhudevi complexes — as well as other locations like Satyanarayanapuram, Bairagipatteda, and Ramanaidu School in Tirupati.

Chaos broke out at Srinivasam as devotees surged forward to get tokens for the annual pilgrimage. “This resulted in a stampede-like situation, as the pilgrims surged forward towards the counters to get the tokens,” an official explained.

TTD board member Bhanu Prakash, calling the incident unfortunate, sought forgiveness from Srivari (Lord Venkateswara Swamy) devotees. He admitted there were some lapses and assured that stringent action would be taken, although lost lives cannot be brought back.

BR Naidu added, “The Chief Minister directed us that such incidents should not recur. Taking this as a lesson, it is incumbent upon all of us to prevent these kinds of incidents in the future.” The CM is expected to announce ex gratia for the affected families on Thursday.