Vijayawada: Do not use village/ward volunteers for election duties

Vijayawada: Citizens for Democracy (recently formed organisation) general secretary and retired IAS officer Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar and joint secretary Vallamreddy Lakshmana Reddy submitted a representation to the Chief Electoral Officer of Andhra Pradesh Mukesh Kumar Meena at the State secretariat in Amaravati on Tuesday urging the latter not to use the services of village and ward volunteers for the election related duties in the State.

Ramesh Kumar and Lakshmana Reddy said use of village and ward volunteers’ services in election related works causes disturbance to the free and fair elections in the State. They said these volunteers have no experience in election related work and the election duty.

They said Citizens for Democracy has been formed to strengthen the democracy and for free and fair conduct of elections in the State and country. They urged the Chief Electoral Officer to take measures to enroll eligible voters in the voters list and pointed out that there are allegations that bogus voters were added and names of genuine voters were deleted from the list in the State.

They reminded that the Election Commission has made it clear that the services of volunteers should not be used for election duties but there are some instances that the village and ward volunteers are working along with the village and ward secretariat staff in election related work. They said that conducting free and fair elections is not possible with the revision of voters’ list.

Responding to the request made by Ramesh Kumar and Lakshmana Reddy, Chief Electoral Officer Mukesh Kumar Meena said the volunteers will not be drafted for any kind of election related duties in the State. He said stern action will be taken against the officials if they use the services of ward and village volunteers in the Election Commission related work.