TDP questions DGP Gautham Sawang visit to Vizianagaram

Amaravati: TDP national general secretary Varla Ramaiah on Sunday questioned the rationale behind DGP Gautham Sawang's visit to a peaceful district like Vizianagaram instead of going to ensure a fair poll in troublesome places like Punganura and Pulivendula.

Ramaiah said that the DGP should have chosen to visit places where there were a lot of complaints about threats, intimidation and forcible unanimous results in the ongoing panchayat elections. These election violations were rampant in Punganur, Thamballapalle, Pulivendula and Macherla. Sawang should visit such places to ensure law and order.

In a statement here, the TDP leader stressed the need for making the police officials to discharge their duties impartially in the polls in the problematic areas.

It was unfortunate that some policemen were not only conniving with the ruling party leaders but also directly issuing threats to ensure forcible unanimous results. This problem was more pronounced in Pulivendula, Macherla, Punganur and Thamballapalle.

Ramaiah termed it laughable that the DGP was visiting the Vizianagaram district where the elections were being held in a peaceful manner.

The DGP's election visit was mere eyewash since genuine efforts were not being made to ensure accountability on the part of the police in these elections. When the Opposition candidates were complaining about election violations, the police were in turn filing cases to harass the victims but not taking action against the perpetrators.

Varla Ramaiah demanded the State Election Commission (SEC) to remove Pithapuram municipal commissioner M Rammohan from the election duty for resorting to the election violations in the past. The TDP leader wrote a letter to the SEC demanding the removal of the municipal commissioner in order to ensure a free and fair civic body election in Pithapuram.

The TDP recalled that Commissioner Rammohan faced suspension for committing irregularities in the voters' list in Pithapuram municipality. His continuation there during the election would be untenable and unacceptable.