A delegation of the opposition TDP met the officials of the Election Commission in Delhi on Tuesday and submitted a memorandum alleging several irregularities in the voters list in the State.
The delegation was led by party state unit president K Atchennaidu, with MP Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar, senior leaders Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, Payyavula Kesav, Nimmala Rama Naidu and Bonda Umamaheswara Rao.
They alleged that the District Election Officers (DEOs) and Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) are not following the ECI directions for preparing error-free electoral rolls. They are under political pressure from the ruling party, particularly the Ministers and MLAs, the TDP leaders said in the letter and made an appeal 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).
The TDP leaders also mentioned about the representation dated August 28, 2023 addressed to the Election Commission of India by the Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, Mr Nara Chandrababu Naidu, which was personally submitted by him in his capacity as the TDP president and Leader of Opposition in which he clearly mentioned a detailed account of the political vendetta being perpetrated, misuse of official machinery including the district collectors, police force and the election officials by the ruling YSRCP. He also mentioned about the ever-deteriorating law and order situation in Andhra Pradesh. Mr Chandrababu Naidu presented the representation to the ECI along with evidence.
The ECI was kind enough to personally hear Chandrababu Naidu at length when he elaborated on the manner in which hundreds of criminal cases were foisted against the TDP leaders and cadres in the past four-and-half years to terrorise them and to keep them away from participating in political activities aimed at questioning the Government on its failures, atrocities and corruption. It was also highlighted then as to how Chief Minister, Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, has made it a practice to manipulate, blackmail and coerce all public institutions, including the judiciary to serve his personal and political ends.
As if in retaliation to this, the YSRCP regime has taken the vendetta and anarchy to new heights. The situation in the State has further deteriorated to such an extent that the DEOs and EROs are completely coerced into acting as dictators by the ruling party, going completely against the rules in carrying out SSR responsibilities. The fear of witch-hunting is forcing them to give a complete go-by to the directions of the ECI, the TDP leaders mentioned in the letter.
The immeasurable degree of contempt towards the ECI and the Rule of Law that the Government of Andhra Pradesh is actively promoting needs to be seen first-hand to be believed. Due to threats and coercion from the ruling dispensation, the EROs have not processed lakhs of death cases, duplicate entries, permanently migrated cases and voters reported as not traceable after the door-to-door verification by TDP. On the other hand, they are forced to delete the names of genuine and surviving voters who are known sympathisers of the TDP.
