Chandragiri assembly constituency in Chittoor district is in the eye of a political storm after allegations poured in of thousands of voters reportedly surrendering their voting rights in the constituency.
As many as 12,252 voters had reportedly volunteered to surrender their voting rights in Chittoor district, with 10,164 of them hailing from Chandragiri constituency alone, said YSR Congress legislator Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy who represents the constituency in the Assembly.
The voters reportedly volunteered to surrender their voting rights through online submission of Form VII, citing outward migration.
The sudden exodus of voters, with barely months to go for the polls, is being treated with suspicion in an already intense political environment in the State.
Electoral officials and the district machinery were caught off guard by the perplexing development, which came to light after the voter enrolment process in the district came to an end on January 11.
According to the updated voter list, till January 11, 5,350 names were deleted due to death, 8,942 names due to migration and 2,030 removed citing duplicate entries.
High numbers
Self-declaration under Form VII for deletion of names, which reportedly happened in a span of ten days, was unusually high, said electoral officials.
What is even more mystifying is that the exodus did not happen in any particular pocket in the widespread constituency, but was spread evenly across the six mandals of Chandragiri, Tirupati Rural, Pakala, Ramachandrapuram, Yerravaripalem and Chinnagottigallu.
News of the mass surrender of voting rights created a furore in the villages, with aghast voters stating that the removal of their names was an 'arbitrary move' as they had never submitted any declaration wanting their names to be struck off the electoral list.
Foul play alleged
The list of people struck off the voter list is disparate, ranging from illiterate villagers to highly educated persons and the elderly.
“Many are alien to the online self-declaration process and few people know what this Form VII is in this predominantly rural constituency. This clearly shows that voters have been removed at the whims and fancies of some influential people,” Mr. Bhaskar Reddy told The Hindu .
Blaming the ruling party for the ‘mischief’, Mr. Bhaskar Reddy said the move was not only a cyber crime but also a gross violation of the People’s Representation Act. The constituency also has the dubious distinction of having received 13,000-odd applications under Form VI for inclusion of names in voters’ list.
When contacted by this newspaper, TDP’s Chittoor district president Pulivarthi Nani levelled similar charges against YSRCP, accusing it of getting voters struck off in large numbers from Kamma-dominated villages.
“Bhaskar Reddy has been doing this for months and he is now turning the tables on us after we started unearthing his shady activities,” Mr. Nani said. Students hailing from Kadapa district but studying in Tirupati Rural had been enrolled as Chandragiri voters, though their Aadhaar cards show their village as the permanent address, Mr. Nani said. “Who is responsible for this?”, he asked.
Battlelines drawn
Chandragiri is perhaps the only Assembly segment in the State where both the TDP and the main opposition party YSRCP have confirmed their candidates, officially or otherwise, six months before the elections.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu hails from Naravaripalle village and represents the Kuppam constituency in Chittoor district.
Even before the notification was issued, YSRCP’s Bhaskar Reddy and TDP’s Nani launched their campaigns and completed several rounds of the mandals. Over the course of the campaign, several sparks have flown, with allegations flying back and forth between the two camps.
Mr. Bhaskar Reddy said he has filed a complaint with the Collector and said he has not ruled out legal recourse.
Collector clarifies
Acknowledging receipt of complaints from both parties, District Election Officer and Collector P.S. Pradyumna confirmed to The Hindu that requests for deletion had indeed been made online, but were not acted upon.
“We have received more than 95,000 requests for inclusion/deletion of voters across Chittoor district. After January 11, any request will be processed by the Collector only after field-level verification,” he said, indicating that the panic being spread in villages was unfounded.
A case has been filed with the police based on video footage provided by the complainant, in which a person supposedly owing allegiance to the TDP was seen giving instructions over phone for removal of certain names.
