Vijayawada: HC directs CEO to keep off volunteers from poll duties

Vijayawada : The division bench of High Court headed by Chief Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur directed Chief Electoral Officer Mukesh Kumar Meena to keep off the volunteers of gram/ward secretariats across the state from the electioneering or election duty, according to secretary of Citizens for Democracy (CDF) Dr Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar and joint secretary Vallamreddy Lakshmana Reddy.

They said in a statement here on Wednesday that the CDF had already taken to the notice of the Election Commission of India that the volunteers of the gram/ward secretariats are being used for electioneering by the state government.

The Election Commission responded immediately and sent instructions to the Chief Electoral Officer of Andhra Pradesh on February 1. But the CEO sent the instructions to the district collectors after two weeks on February 14. The delay is highly deplorable, they said.

Subsequently, the Chief Minister and senior Cabinet ministers instructed the volunteers to work actively as election agents acting against the instructions of the ECI. The conduct of free and fair elections has become a huge challenge in this backdrop.

When the CDF wrote letters to the CEO to take the damage-limiting action, there was no reaction from the Chief Electoral Officer which is highly deplorable.

Out of desperation, the CFD was compelled to move the High Court by filing a writ petition on March 5. The petition submitted by senior advocate N Aswin Kumar was taken up by the High Court which directed the Election Commission of India and the Chief Electoral Officer to take action immediately. Dr Ramesh Kumar and Lakshmana Reddy hoped that the ECI and CEO would take action to limit the damage. However, if there was no action from the ECI and the CEO, they would be compelled to move the High Court once again, they said.