AP Speaker summoned in connection to violation of electoral laws

Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly Kodela Shiva Prasada Rao has been summoned by a local court on April 20 in connection with a complaint pertaining to alleged violation of the electoral laws.

Magistrate M Satish Kumar today issued summons to Rao on a complaint filed by one Singireddy Bhaskara Reddy of Karimnagar, who contended that Rao used undue influence and won the election by spending money.

Rao is elected from Sattenapalle constituency in Andhra Pradesh.

To support his claim, Reddy argued that Rao in an interview to a news channel on June 19, 2016 had stated that "He (Rao) had spent Rs 30,000 when he first fought the MLA election in 1983 and that too with donations from the villagers. But the recent election expenses touched Rs 11.50 crore."
The interview was telecast on June 19, 2016.

"The expenditure in his (Raos) words was 40 times more than the expenditure limit set by the Election Commission," contended Reddy.

Reddys complaint maintains that Rao used undue influence and won the election by spending huge amount of money.
He appealed to the Court to punish Rao under sections 171 E (punishment for bribery), 171 F (punishment for undue influence or personation at an election), 171 G (false statement in connection with election), 171 H (illegal payments in connection with an election) of the IPC.

Though Reddy filed the complaint before the local police they did not taken any action. Later, he approached the Hyderabad High Court.

The High Court directed the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Karimnagar town to take cognizance of the case.