Amidst accusations made by the opposition parties on alleged bogus voters in the MLC elections, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mukesh Kumar Meena on Sunday asserted that “ample time” was given to raise objections over the voters’ list.
“The Election Commission of India (ECI) has deleted the names following complaints from the public,” Mr. Meena said while addressing the media here.
Mr. Meena said as many as 50,098 names were deleted from the list as on February 23. Of this, about 29,700 were duplications and more than 11,900 were related to documents. Another 3,400 were non-residents, taking the total number to 50,098, he said, adding that political parties were given three months time to respond.
“The list was frozen on February 23 and legally nothing can be done now to alter it,” he said.
Mr. Meena’s statement assumed significance in the wake of allegations made by the Opposition leaders against the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).
The opposition parties, including the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and others, had accused the ruling YSCP of colluding with the election officials to include the names of bogus voters in the list. TDP national president N. Chandrbabu Naidu had even wrote a letter to the ECI in this regard.
Mr. Meena said that biennial elections to the Legislative Council from the Graduates, Teachers and Local Authorities’ constituencies would be held on Mach 13 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The counting of votes would be taken up on March 16.
A 48-hour restriction, which began at 4 p.m. on March 11, would be in vogue up to 4 p.m. on March 13. No person would be allowed to convene, hold, attend, join or address any public meeting, door-to-door canvassing, or procession in connection with the elections.
Display to public any election matter by means of cinematograph, television or other similar apparatus under the provisions of Section 126A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 was prohibited. Transmission of bulk SMS of political nature was prohibited. Closure of liquor shops / toddy shops in poll-bound districts would be in vogue, he said.
The CEO said that as many as 37 candidates were in the fray for the Srikakulam - Vizianagaram - Visakhapatnam Graduates’ constituency. Similarly, 22 candidates were in fray for the Prakasam - Nellore - Chittoor Graduates, and 49 candidates for the Kadapa -Anantapur - Kurnool Graduates’ constituencies. There were 8 and 12 candidates in the fray for the Prakasam - Nellore - Chittoor Teachers’ constituencies respectively. Likewise, there were 2 candidates for the Srikakulam local authorities’ constituency and 6 and 3 candidates respectively for the West Godavari and Kurnool local authorities’ constituencies, he informed.
Mr. Meena said there were 10,00,519 electors and 1,172 polling stations for the Srikakulam - Vizianagaram - Visakhapatnam, Prakasam - Nellore - Chittoor and Kadapa - Anantapur -Kurnool Graduates’ constituencies.
Similarly, there were 55,842 electors and 351 polling stations for the Teachers’ constituencies, while for Local Authorities constituencies, there were 3,059 voters, he added.
