BJP State president Kanna Lakshminarayana requested Union Home Minister Amit Shah to provide security to State Election Commissioner (SEC) N. Ramesh Kumar with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) , alleging that the State police were acting at the behest of the ruling party and its cadres posed a threat to the SEC.
In a letter to Mr. Shah on Wednesday, Mr. Lakshminarayana said it was disheartening to take the atrocities, violations and abuse of government machinery during the local body elections (which were postponed by six weeks) to the Union Minister’s notice.
He observed that the violence was unprecedented and never in the past had the police personnel been involved in the election process asagents of the ruling party.
The unanimous declaration of around 25% of the MPTC and ZPTC seats itself speaks about the undemocratic way in which the elections were sought to be conducted, he said.
The State BJP chief said the problem of COVID-19 prompted the SEC to postpone the elections to local bodies as the virus was spreading due to the gathering of a large number of people.
‘Derogatory remarks’
Unfortunately, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, MPs, MLAs, MLCs and others, including Assembly Speaker Thammineni Seetharam, made derogatory comments on Mr. Ramesh Kumar, who faced the risk of physical attacks.
The Centre should, therefore, give protection to the SEC, Mr. Lakshminarayana said.
