YSRC MP complains to EC on memo for counting of postal ballots

Vijayawada: The ruling YSRC has complained to the Election Commission over the issue of a memo by the AP Chief Electoral Officer on collection of specimen signatures of attesting officers with regard to postal ballots.

This was against the EC’s norms, YSRC Rajya Sabha member S. Niranjan Reddy stated in a letter he sent to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Wednesday.

He said that the instructions issued on May 25 appeared to be contradicting the earlier guidelines issued by the EC on the counting of postal ballots. Such a contradiction of norms might result in rejection of valid postal ballots.

Niranjan Reddy called upon the CEC to have an urgent review of such instructions. This was crucial for maintenance of integrity of the electoral process, he stressed.

In a separate development, YSRC general secretary Sajjala Ramkrishna Reddy asked the party’s counting agents to be fully alert against likely mischief by rivals during the counting process

He called upon the party counting agents to be careful especially while counting of the postal ballots and cited how their party lost thousands of postal ballots in Guntur in the 2019 polls.

Ramkrishna Reddy said TD chief N. Chandrababu Naidu was known for manipulation of the systems to his benefit. YSRC leaders and counting agents must be aware of the norms issued by the EC for vote counting to ensure no lapse takes place, he said.