Chandrababu Naidu protests EC bias

Amaravati: The office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) witnessed an unprecedented scene when Chief Minister and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu met CEO Gopalakrishna Dwivedi and submitted a memorandum against the arbitrary actions of the Election Commission of India.

Never in the history of the nation a chief minister met the CEO to lodge a protest. After submitting the memorandum to the CEO, Naidu sat on a dharna protesting against the spate of transfers of several IAS and IPS officers, including the chief secretary and other police officials.

Talking to reporters, Naidu said the acts of the ECI during the ongoing election process causes concern as it was making a mockery of democracy under the pressure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The ECI, which has been turning a blind eye to all the complaints filed by TDP and other political parties, has been acting as per the direction of the YSRCP since it has been directed to do so by Modi. Expressing concern over the way the ECI has been functioning, Naidu said democracy and the country was under threat from Modi and BJP.

Explaining the sequence of events, Naidu said a complaint goes from YSRCP and within hours police officers and other are transferred. The Director-General of Police intelligence and SPs of Kadapa and Srikakulam were also shifted without giving any reasonable opportunity to them. The Chief Secretary was transferred recently. Further, the new CS incumbent has been posted without even consulting the state government.

The Chief Minister said Jagan has been using his news channel and newspaper to pollute the minds of common people. V Vijayasaireddy, who has been accused of committing fraud forgeries and corrupt activities before the CBI court, has been continuously sending complaints against the TDP. He filed nearly 7.5 lakh form seven applications online from various places like Bengaluru and Kolkata. But EC refused to even to give IP addresses sought by SIT which was probing into

this fraud.

The Election Commission of India takes instant note of the complaint of a person who is involved in 31 criminal cases. But puts all other complaints in cold storage, Naidu said. Since elections were announced IT officials have been targeting TDP candidates and sympathisers creating an atmosphere of fear and terror in violation of not only the model code of conduct but also disturbing the level playing field.

Recently 65 retired IAS, IFS and IPS officers wrote to President of India citing bias of the Election Commission in transferring AP officials. "I strongly protest against such tyrannical and undemocratic attitude of the ECI and hope that it conducts its business by ensuring a level playing field to all the contesting political parties in the state and uphold the democratic values and respect the Constitution of India," he added.