The Chief Electoral Officer of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh has written to the Telangana Anti Corruption Bureau court for the details of documents submitted to the court as evidence in the cash-for-vote case filed against TDP MLA A. Revanth Reddy in the context of the recent MLC elections.
The CEO Bhanwar Lal told The Hindu that the Election Commission had written to the ACB Court on June 1 itself to give the details of all documents related to the case and on Thursday it sent a reminder. Mr. Reddy was arrested by the ACB on May 31 while the election to the Telangana Legislature Council was held on June 1.
It may be recalled that till the Election Commission sent a letter to the Telangana Government through the CEO on June 18 to probe the bribery allegations in the MLC elections made by nominated MLA Elvis Stephenson vigorously and take it to its logical end, it was presumed that the case was not taken to the notice of the Election Commission.
The Telugu Desam had also raised the issue and argued that it was the EC that should monitor the case related to an electoral offence and it came under the purview of the electoral law and not under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The Office of CEO said the EC maintains records of all election related cases and in the 2014 General and the State election some 14,000 cases were filed. The recent cash-for-vote case was also one among them and as a matter of routine, the details of related documents would go into the EC file. Thus the EC sought the details of documents submitted to the court by the ACB as evidence.
Replying to a question whether the cash for vote case should be tried under the Prevention of Corruption Act or under the Representation of People’s Act, sources at CEO said it was for the court to decide. While the case would be supervised by the persecuting agency, the EC’s supervision would be indirect.
