Congress Team Meets Election Commission

HYDERABAD: The BJP demanded action against errant officials who were spoiling the election process in the state, while the Congress complained about voters lists during a meeting with a team of Election Commission of India officials here on Saturday.

The BJP also demanded suspension of returning officers and action against errant officials  even if they had retired from service.

A delegation led by BJP leader Marri Shashidhar Reddy presented a memorandum containing these demands to the EC team. The BJP delegation included party leader G. Rama Rao Yadav and Ponna Venkataraman.

BJP leaders alleged that while the ECI had directed transfers of officials who were involved in the election, the process was controlled by government chief adviser Somesh Kumar. They said Somesh Kumar had the dubious record of illegal deletion of lakhs of voters when he was GHMC commissioner.

The party demanded the transfer of police officials in the Special Branch, Intelligence and south zone of Hyderabad. It said there were deliberate attempts to prepare electoral rolls to give advantage to the BRS.

The Congress delegation lead by TPCC senior vice-president G. Niranjan, appraised the EC team of problems in the voter lists.

The party has been raising concerns on the sanctity of the voter lists as the block level officers have been busy with the state formation day celebrations. Concerns have also been raised about their training. The party had alleged that a house to house survey is not happening and voter lists are being made based on existing voter lists itself.

The party asked the EC for a random check of the BLOs competency at the ground level. It submitted a memorandum to the EC team citing various issues relating to voters lists and failure of the administration in containing violations of the model code of conduct.

The delegation explained various issues in detail for 40 minutes. The EC team assured all steps on the issues raised by us, Niranjan said.

Other members of the delegation are P. Rajesh Kumar,  Narender Thanneer, Wajid Hussain, Shashibhushan Kache, N. Krishna Kumar Goud.