TD MLA complains to ECI on deletion of names of voters from electoral rolls

Vijayawada: Telugu Desam MLA from Parchur, Yeluri Sambasiva Rao, alleged irregularities in the deletion of names of voters from electoral rolls as part of the special summary revision of voters’ lists. He urged the Election Commission to order a probe and initiate action against the officials involved in such electoral “malpractices.”

In a letter addressed to the senior deputy commissioner of ECI on Monday, the TD legislator alleged that the ruling YSRC was deleting names of voters on a large scale with help from the local police and other officials. “Many from the drought-prone Bapatla district live in Hyderabad to eke out a living. Youths stay there for education and employment on a temporary basis. The ruling party is prompting deletion of all such names from the list,” he said.

He said the YSRC was deploying the police to manipulate the booth-level officers. “The modus operandi is to file Form-7 in large numbers and subject the concerned booth-level officer to pressure to remove the names of such voters from the electoral rolls. In case of any resistance, senior police officers are roped in to apply pressure on such officials,” he alleged.

The MLA said control and manipulation of booth-level officers of the entire constituency for deletion of voters through filing of Form-7 meant a manipulation of the election process. He sought intervention of ECI to help the booth level officers act independently and protect the interests of genuine voters and ensure their names were not deleted from the electoral rolls without proper verification.