Election Commission summons SPs of three districts for inquiry into poll-related violence

March 20, 2024 07:04 pm | Updated 08:05 pm IST - GUNTUR

Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mukesh Kumar Meena has summoned the Superintendents of Police of three districts, where there have been incidents of violence after the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into force, to appear before him on March 21 (Thursday) at the Secretariat, at Velagapudi in Guntur district.

Addressing the media on March 20 (Wednesday), Mr. Meena said the commission had taken a serious note of the two murders that were committed, one at Giddaluru in Prakasam district and another at Allagadda in Nandyal district, and the torching of a car at Macherla in Palnadu district recently.

Mr. Meena said the SPs of the three districts were summoned to the CEO office for inquiry into these incidents.

It may be recalled that TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu had written a letter to the CEO alleging that these incidents had been instigated by the ruling YSRCP against the TDP workers, more particularly after the election process commenced.

Responding to a query on the alleged security violations during the Praja Galam public meeting organised by the TDP-BJP-JSP alliance at Chilakaluripeta in Palnadu district, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi had participated, the Chief Electoral Officer said the Union Home Ministry was seized of the issue and would take appropriate action. “I am not authorised to comment on an issue that is under the purview of the Ministry of Home Affairs,” he added.

Referring to the action taken against the government employees and the village and ward volunteers for violating the MCC, Mr. Meena said, “So far, we have taken action against 46 employees, who included 40 volunteers. While the regular employees have been suspended, the contract employees and volunteers have been removed from service.”

Mr. Meena further said that 12,400 wall writings, 92,000 posters, 62,000 banners and 39,000 other material were removed. Similarly, 94 cases pertaining to defacement of property were filed, and 37 cases were registered for misuse of vehicles and other violations, he added.

A total of ₹176 crore had been seized by the Election Commission since January 1 this year, which included ₹78 crore in cash and ₹41-crore worth precious metals and ₹30-crore worth narcotics, Mr. Meena said.

“After the announcement of the MCC, we have seized ₹3.39 crore, which includes ₹80 lakh in cash, ₹1.60-crore worth liquor and drugs valued at ₹29 crore. The police have so far filed 385 FIRs of all types,” he said.

“The commission is also regularly monitoring the production of liquor, dispatch of liquor stocks from the manufacturers to the godowns and retailers, and volume of sales. The data is being compared with the previous year’s figures to identify any abnormalities,” he added.

The CEO said that as part of cVIGIL, 1,173 teams of Flying Squad and Surveillance Teams (FST) that had been constituted received 1,307 complaints. “All but 40 complaints have been addressed with a strike rate of 74%,” he added.

“The Encore portal and Suvidha app are now active to enable the contestants to file nominations and seek permission for campaigns respectively. So far, for both Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies, the political parties have requested 398 permissions at the district level,” he said.