The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has submitted a representation to the Election Commission of India (ECI) in New Delhi urging it to deploy Special Observers, and constitute a special task force to look into the Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls.
The team comprising TDP Andhra Pradesh State president K. Atchannaidu, Rajya Sabha member Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar, Leader of the Opposition in the State Legislative Council Yanamala Ramakrsihnudu, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Payyavula Kesav, MLA Nimmala Rama Naidu, and TDP politburo member Bonda Umamaheswara Rao, submitted a letter to the Election Commission on Tuesday.
In the letter, they alleged that the District Election Officers (DEOs) and Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) were not following the directions of the ECI in preparing error free electoral rolls. They were allegedly buckling under political pressure from the ruling party Ministers, MLAs and other leaders. Though the ECI had instructed that the volunteers should not be involved in any one of the election related works, there were several instances where they were actively involved in the process, they alleged. Though some BLOs were suspended for associating the volunteers with election related works, no action was taken against the volunteers, they said.
The TDP appealed to the ECI to deploy Special Observers and also made an appeal for constitution of a special task force and removal of the Secretariat staff as Booth-Level Officers (BLOs). They also asked the ECI to issue instructions to the CEO to keep all transactions in the SSR process transparent along with timely communication of decisions and replies to our functionaries at all levels by the respective officials. “We further request the ECI to arrange to provide details of additions and deletions to the political parties in the weekly meetings held by the EROs,” they said.
