The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Tuesday submitted a memorandum to Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) K. Vijayanand urging him to take necessary steps to restore the existing electoral process duly excluding the role of village/ward volunteers.
In the memorandum, party leaders Kinjarapu Atchannaidu, Chikkala Ramachandra Rao and D. Jagadeeswar Rao said there were discrepancies in the voter verification process.
Expressing doubts over the role of village/ward volunteers, they alleged that the government was involving the volunteers with ‘a sinister design’ to remove the names of non-YSRCP supporters, TDP supporters in particular, from the voters’ list.
The YSRCP was driving the village/ward volunteers to assist Booth Level Officers (BLOs).
They recalled that senior YSR Congress Party leader Vijaya Sai Reddy had said in Visakhapatnam on September 21 that 90 % of the village/ward volunteers are drawn from the pool of party cadre.
‘Time-tested practice’
Previously, the State Election Commission used to give a schedule for voter enrolment and verification after conducting a meeting with all political parties.
Simultaneously, the same information was published in all vernacular and English language newspapers for the benefit of the public and thereby ensuring due process.
However, now it appeared that the due process was being bypassed by the government in favour of the ruling party.
