Hyderabad: Congress urges EC to call all-party meet on GHMC polls

Hyderabad: The Congress party on Wednesday urged the Election Commission to organise an all-party meeting for ensuring a smoother election process for the upcoming GHMC polls.

The meeting of TPCC Election Coordination Committee, held under the chairmanship of Marri Shashidhar Reddy at the Gandhi Bhavan, pondered on overcoming the loopholes and technical issues which could prove detrimental to the prospects of the Congress party in the elections.

While referring to the previous elections in 2016, where details of reserved wards were announced just prior to a few hours, the Committee demanded that the Election Commission come up with such changes at least 15 days prior to the notification, so that parties have scope for raising objections, if any.

The Committee also demanded the government to make it clear if the number of wards to be increased and to follow the norms (2011 census) if there was any chance of delimitation. "The reserved wards for SC and ST should be announced in advance as in the earlier elections, irrespective of the demographic changes made in the existing wards," said Shashidhar Reddy.

The Committee members, who will be meeting State Election Commissioner C Parthasarathi and other officials, wondered over the reports that the authorities were gearing up for conducting elections through ballot and reasoned if it was true, then why the Election Commission has invited suggestions from different political parties? "There is a need for informing the officials about the hindrances which could be affecting the entire election process in view of the prevailing covid crisis," the Committee's chairman added.

The Committee also demanded that each polling booth should be restructured in view of the prevailing situation and ensure that not more than 500 voters were enlisted. Shashidhar Reddy emphasised on employing technology so that all discrepancies can be removed and no political party gets an unfair advantage with bogus votes.