Hyderabad, April 08: The Telugu Desam has appealed to the Election Commission to deal firmly with electoral malpractices like distribution of money in Kadapa.
In a letter to the chief election commissioner on Saturday, TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu said public access to online monitoring and recorded videos could help, if given in time, to complain about electoral malpractices. The Kadapa Lok Sabha and the Pulivendula Assembly by-elections would be remembered for long by the public for flagrant violation of electoral law and use of unprecedented money power to influence voters, he alleged.
“The preventive measures taken by the election authorities could not effectively check use of money and muscle power in the election process. Leaders were given Scorpio vehicles as gifts and voters were given amounts ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 5,000 but the official machinery remained a mute spectator to this open defiance of election law,” Naidu complained to ECI.
“The failure to maintain law and order is another glaring omission. Opposition leaders are attacked by the followers of YS Jagan and it was followed by his threatening statements but none of these events could not merit the attention of authorities. It is quite shocking to observe faction murders at the height of electioneering which conclusively proves the inadequacy of local police,” Naidu said.
Meanwhile, in a representation to the chief electoral officer, a TDP delegation led by Dadi Veerabhadra Rao sought strict enforcement of law and order and expediting the access to recorded CDs and online monitoring results to ensure free and fair polls.
In certain places, the authorities had taken a lenient view while booking the cases against electoral malpractices to cover up the misdeeds of contesting candidates and parties under pressure, the TDP leader alleged in the memorandum.
The TDP submitted recorded evidence of people representing YS Jagan Mohan Reddy being caught on camera distributing money in Proddatur.
The past record pointed to the vulnerability of polling agents of political parties and polling personnel. The agents should be provided foolproof security to discharge their functions without fear, the TDP demanded.
In another memorandum submitted to the director-general of police, the TDP alleged deteriorating law and order situation and electoral malpractices on an unprecedented scale in Kadapa.
Groups of anti-social elements were mobilised from neighbouring districts and were lodged in function halls, rice-mills and private houses at Mydukuru to create disturbances and threaten the public on the polling day, the opposition party alleged and urged the DGP to depute senior and impartial police officers known for their integrity on the polling day.
–Agencies