'Full Commission' of EC to visit T'gana soon as part of Assembly poll preparations

Hyderabad: The "full commission" of the Election Commission would visit Telangana from October 3 as part of preparations for the upcoming Legislative Assembly elections, state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vikas Raj said on Saturday.

During the three-day visit, the visiting EC officials would have meetings with the CEO's office, political parties, Chief Secretary, DGP, district Collectors, police officials and others, he told reporters here after opening a media centre in the CEO's office. He said more than 20 agencies, including Central and state, have been identified this time (regarding implementation of model code of conduct). The Commission will have a meeting with these agencies, he said. "We are going ahead with the preparations in a timely manner as per the schedule," he said. The agencies include state police, excise department, GST, Income Tax department, Enforcement Directorate, DRI and RBI.

Almost 15 lakh additions in electoral rolls have been made since January this year, while upto 3.38 lakh deletions have also happened. Almost 15 lakh Form-8 (for modifications like address change) have been received since January this year which is unprecedented, the CEO said. The CEO's office has taken up campaigns by reaching out to Residents Welfare Associations (RWA), he said.

"There is a lot of effort that has been made to improve the electoral roll," he said. The CEO expressed confidence that the present electoral rolls are quite robust. Asked about complaints of bogus votes by some political leaders, he said a lot of complaints have been received and that each of them would be looked into. Copy of the inquiry is also being given to the complainants, he added.