YSRC Seeks Withdrawal of New Directives of CEO on Postal Ballots

 Vijayawada: A delegation of the YSRC, led by minister Meruga Nagarjuna and former minister Perni Nani, lodged a complaint with the Election Commission on Tuesday, objecting to the “unwarranted” relaxation of norms for postal ballot counting in Andhra Pradesh.

The reference was to a recent EC directive that the Form 13 A Postal ballots should not be rejected if they bear the Returning Officer’s signature but are not stamped and YSRC claimed it as violation of norms.

They quoted the rule that, a postal ballot paper shall be rejected during the counting process without opening its inner cover (Form 13-B) if the declaration has not been duly signed by the elector or has not been duly attested by the officer on duty, or is otherwise defective.

The YSRC leaders claimed that these instructions make it clear that proper attestation is to be done by the officer competent to do so, lest the postal ballot paper stands rejected.

Nagarjuna and Nani alleged that TD chief Chandrababu Naidu created chaos in the elections and deplored that the Election Commission did not take action even when TD leaders attacked voters.

They said the state election authority has given directions against the Election Commission rules regarding postal ballot. The orders should be withdrawn immediately as “acceptance by mere specimen signature is not valid.”

They alleged that TD initiated anarchy on polling day and now conspired that the counting should not be done properly, “fearing that the YSRC victory is certain.”

The YSRC leaders stressed that the postal ballot covers should be signed and stamped by the gazetted officer. “But, the state CEO has recently ordered to ‘collect the specimen signatures and give them to the counting officials if the designation is not written by hand’. “We are objecting to this,” the two leaders said.

They asked why a rule was brought here, even as it “does not exist anywhere in the country” and why the CEO was giving orders contrary to the rules given by the Election Commission.

They also asked why the Election Commission had to issue a rule as was asked by a political party (TD) in AP.

“The CEO’s office issued an order on May 25, withdrawing the same, and it is not reflecting the spirit enunciated by EC in respect of grounds for rejection of postal ballot papers.”

MLC Lella Appi Reddy, MLA Maddali Giri, former minister Ravela Kishore Babu and YSRC grievance cell president Narayana Murthy expressed their fear that the relaxation given by the poll body would lead to clashes.

They said that due to these guidelines, there would not be any vote secrecy. The Telugu Desam’s cadre unleashed chaos and launched a series of violent attacks during and after the polls on May 13. The EC did not do much to control the situation, they said, and demanded that the poll body withdraw its latest directive.