Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu met Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India Rajiv Kumar in New Delhi on Monday, and requested him to visit Andhra Pradesh along with the members of the Election Commission (EC) to assess the grave situation prevalent in the State due to the alleged subversion of electoral practices and to constitute a high-power committee, including experts in forensic science, to monitor the revision of electoral rolls and take remedial action against those violating the norms.
Mr. Naidu told the CEC that it was widely perceived under the given circumstances that the 2024 general elections would be a violent affair caused by the usage of money and muscle power, and pointed out that eligible citizens were robbed of their right to vote. The ECI should, therefore, treat A.P. as the ‘most sensitive State’ and provide a special monitoring mechanism to ensure free and fair elections.
He requested the CEC to ensure that every eligible voter was included in the electoral rolls and the names of all dead and fake voters were deleted, to review the ‘deletions’ done during the last two revisions and restore the eligible voters through Form-6, thoroughly check the Form-7 applications filed in bulk and to reject bulk applications under Rule-17 of the Representation of People Act, 1950.
Further, Mr. Naidu sought the exclusion of ward and village volunteers from all election-related work in view of the repeated instances of their interference despite strict instructions from the EC. He wanted an inquiry to be ordered into the alleged collection and transfer of voters’ data, including their Aadhaar numbers, through the volunteers and handing the data to private agencies, and criminal action to be taken against the conspirators of all electoral frauds.
“The EC should review the voter data pertaining to 10.32 lakh entries related to deaths and duplicate votes submitted by the TDP to the Chief Electoral Officer of A.P. and the election returning officers concerned,” Mr. Naidu told the CEC.
The entire administrative machinery involved in election work has been in the grip of the ruling YSR Congress Party and they were under enormous pressure to act against the rule of law. The names of a huge number of voters were removed in blatant violation of norms, Mr. Naidu complained to the CEC and insisted that the EC should treat the matter with utmost seriousness.
