TDP, YSRCP & BJP complain to poll panel, express concerns

New Delhi: Both ruling YSRCP and Opposition TDP and BJP delegations separately met the Election Commission on Thursday and raised concerns about Andhra Pradesh’s electoral rolls. While the TDP urged the EC to review pending voters’ applications before releasing the final electoral rolls, the BJP accused the ruling YSRCP of tampering with the voters’ list. The YSR Congress Party also submitted a complaint to the EC, alleging that the TDP was collecting voters’ details in the state, especially caste and political affiliations, through two websites — ‘mypartydashboard.com’ and ‘TDPmanifesto.com’ — in gross violation of the law.

Delegations of the three parties met the EC separately. After the TDP delegation’s meeting with the EC, party MP K Ram Mohan Naidu told reporters, “Over the last three months, we have raised multiple demands before the Election Commission. No issues have been tackled till now. We came again to meet them (EC) and at least we have got an assurance today.”

The EC assured the TDP delegation that it would review and resolve the pending 13-14 lakh applications related to Forms 6 and 7 before releasing the final voters’ list. It also said that a special team would be sent to the state on December 22, Naidu said.

Last week, the poll panel released a draft voters’ list of Andhra Pradesh without processing the pending applications, he claimed. “We observed that there were a lot of discrepancies in the process followed for registering new voters and deleting (names of) deceased voters in the state,” Naidu said.

About 7.23 lakh applications were related to Form 6 (including those of first-time voters or for shifting from one constituency to another) and 6.27 lakh applications were related to Form 7 (deletion of name or objecting to inclusion of a person’s name due to death and shifting of residence), he claimed. “About 13-14 lakh applications are pending. It is a huge percentage of voters in AP,” he said.

The TDP also complained against the YSRCP to the EC, alleging that the ruling party was using government staff and collectors for its political programme “Why AP needs Jagan”. TDP MPs Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar and Galla Jayadev were also present in the meeting.

In its meeting with the EC, the BJP delegation alleged that the YSRCP was tampering with voters’ lists and preparing one using fake voter ID cards. Led by Andhra Pradesh BJP chief D Purandeswari, the delegation urged the EC to ban the YSCRP’s election symbol, ‘fan’, saying that fans are installed in election booths and the ruling party’s workers can use them to woo voters.

The YSRCP delegation was led by Rajya Sabha member V Vijayasai Reddy. During its meeting with the EC, Reddy said, the delegation alleged that the TDP was collecting voters’ details in the state, especially caste and political affiliations, through two websites — ‘mypartydashboard.com’ and ‘TDPmanifesto.com’.

The ruling party also accused the TDP of enrolling Telangana residents as new voters in Andhra Pradesh and sought action against Suresh Koneru, state coordinator of the TDP’s electoral cell, for furnishing false information, he said.

“We have requested the EC to investigate all items. The TDP is manipulating and enticing the voters by finding out their caste, creed and religion and also their political affiliation... which is prohibited by the law,” Reddy said. The YSRCP submitted evidence showing 4,30,264 voters enrolled in two different states, he said. “The commission responded positively and has ordered an investigation,” he said.