Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MP Galla Jayadev has suggested that the Central government should consider appointing a Supreme Court Judge as the Chief Election Commissioner to strengthen the institution of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Referring to the debate on the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023 in Lok Sabha on December 21 (Thursday), Mr. Jayadev alleged that the government employees on election duties in Andhra Pradesh were not following the directives of the ECI in preparing error-free electoral rolls due to pressure from the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) leaders.
Mr. Jayadev, in a release, said that a TDP delegation met the Chief Election Commissioner and party’s national president N. Chandrababu Naidu wrote to the ECI about the “subjugation of democratic rights of people” through electoral malpractice and removing names of the TDP supporters and sympathisers from the electoral rolls in Andhra Pradesh.
He demanded that the Central government deploy non-local Electoral Roll Observers in Andhra Pradesh to check the electoral malpractice. He alleged that the field staff deployed, instead of correcting mistakes in the electoral rolls, took a casual approach by transferring the responsibility to the lower officers, not following the strict and meticulous instructions given by the ECI.
“Consequently, 10.27 lakh cases remained unprocessed on the date of publication of the draft electoral rolls. After the publication of the draft rolls, 13.5 lakh applications seeking corrections were filed as of December 13. Thus, a total of 23.77 lakh applications have to be enquired by the State Election Commission,” he said.
Mr. Jayadev demanded in Lok Sabha that the ECI should remove the names of the deceased voters and include the names of people whose names were removed wrongly from electoral rolls, and rectify the demographically and photographically similar entries.
