Vijayawada: BJP state president Daggubati Purandeswari on Saturday has asked the chief electoral officer (CEO) of Andhra Pradesh to reconsider the proposal of assigning election duties to staff of the endowments department in the coming two months.
In a letter to the CEO, she pointed out that the months of April, May and June fall under the Uttarayana Punya Kaalam. Many festivals like Ugadi and Srirama Navami come under the same period.
Further, schools and colleges will be closed for the summer vacation. A large number of people take up pilgrimage during the period and visit temples.
As a result, Purandeswari said, it is important that the endowments’ staff remain in temples, so that they could cater to the rush of devotees and enable them to have smooth darshan.
She pointed out that endowments staff are assigned specific duties, which cannot be ignored, as that would amount to bypassing the Agama Sastras. Hence, their work must not be disturbed.
The AP BJP chief went on to underline that as all endowments staff are from the Hindu religion, their deputation for election work would invite criticism that people of one particular religion are being utilised for election work.
She suggested that as all examinations were over, services of teachers could be roped in for election duties.
