Chugh moves EC, accuses TRS of snooping on BJP leaders

HYDERABAD: Ahead of the high-stakes byelection to the Munugode Assembly constituency, BJP general secretary Tarun Chugh filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday, accusing the TRS government of violating electoral laws and the model code of conduct.

Chugh stated that the state government was abusing its power and snooping on BJP leaders by illegally tapping their phones, primarily those working in the Munugode constituency, and demanded a thorough investigation into the illegal and a serious offence.

"It goes without saying that it is not permissible under law to tap someone's phone without any legal process, and these actions are nothing more than an abuse of legal process by the ruling TRS party," Chugh stated.

The BJP leader accused the TRS of using mobile money transfer apps to directly transfer money into the accounts of Munugode voters, claiming that the party had used a similar tactic in previous elections as well as the recently-held MLC graduate elections.

Chugh stated in the complaint that the Chandrashekar Rao government was levelling false allegations, without concrete evidence, that the BJP was engineering defections, with a clear intent to malign the BJP and mislead the voters.

After the TRS released a purported list of bank accounts of Munugode voters and alleged that BJP candidate Rajagopal Reddy's family firm Sushee Infra had transferred money in order to distribute cash to voters, Chugh stated that banking details of any individual or company and transactions were considered a private transaction. Even the Right to Information (RTI) Act does not permit a person to obtain anyone's banking details, he said.

"TRS is attempting to intrude into someone's privacy while also engaging in false propaganda by providing some fictitious transactions, the credibility, genuineness, and veracity of which we also question," he stated in his complaint.