The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday has demanded an independent probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to look into the ‘electoral malpractices including payment of money to voters through mobile digital channels’ in the recent elections to the MLC graduate constituencies for the Legislative Council.
Senior leader N. Ramchander Rao in a petition to the Election Commission (EC) complained that the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) had resorted to ‘enrolment of bogus voters’ and also ‘distribution of money through digital channels’ during the just concluded elections.
He reminded that the BJP has made a complaint earlier about ‘vested interest groups’ indulging in enrolling voters for MLC graduate constituencies on the basis of submission of fake certificate of degrees/diplomas. The party had requested for the certificates uploaded to the universities concerned for verification and thereafter publish the draft list for objections, to ensure free and fair elections.
However, “for reasons inexplicable, it was not done, and so many bogus votes with fake certificates were enrolled” and it has affected winning chances of the party candidates like him, he alleged. In this context, Mr. Rao stated that on the direction of Supreme Court, all the Bar associations have been sending their enrolled advocates for certification verification to verify any bogus or fake certificates submitted for enrolment as advocates.
He also charged that the TRS party members had grossly violated the provision of law transporting “every voter from the villages and even urban areas to the polling station by hiring vehicles”. His own election agent and a resident of Chaitanyapuri, L.B. Nagar constituency, got a call enquiring about any transport required to reach Uppal for voting from a TRS local representative and the same was even reported to the Returning Officer concerned, he pointed out.
The BJP leader accused that digital mobile pay channels were used to pay money of ₹2,000 to ₹5,000 to entice the voters. The EC should also seek a report from the Returning Officer concerned about the electoral malpractices indulged by the ruling party, he added.
