The Andhra Pradesh State Chief Electoral Officer, Mukesh Kumar Meena warned that action will be taken if volunteers participate in the election campaign. Since volunteers are part of the government, he said that the ECI has received clear instructions not to engage volunteers in election duties under any circumstances.
Moreover, he said that elections cannot be held without teachers and they are responsible for almost 60 percent of the election duties. Also, Meena said that even if the village and ward secretariat staff are taken on election duties, they will be limited to finger ink only. He made it clear that out of the five officers present in each polling station, there will be only one secretariat staff.
Meanwhile, Meena has issued a directive to all District Election Officers to remove any hoardings, posters, and cut-outs with political announcements in government offices and public places by 3 PM. This order is in line with the strict implementation of the Code of Conduct for Elections in the state.
He said that there are total 4,09,37,352 crore voters in AP, of which 2,00,84,276 are male, 2,08,49,730 are female, 3,346 are others, 7,763 are NRI voters, 67,393 are service voters, and 2,12,237 are above 85 years of age. He said that in the last 45 days, around 1.75 lakh people have registered to vote and they can apply till April 15.
He said that the applications received till that day will be examined and the eligible ones will be given the right to vote. He explained that the removal applications will not be received from Saturday.
The Chief Election Officer stated that 46,165 polling centers will be set up across the state and only women staff will be on duty in 179 centers. He said that voter slips will be distributed five days before the polling and one can exercise the right to vote by showing any of the 12 types of identity cards.
Elderly and disabled persons above 85 years of age have been given the facility to vote from home. Form-12 applications have to be filled for this. The Returning Officer will examine them and give an opportunity to vote. If the beneficiaries are already selected for the welfare schemes, benefits can be provided to them with the approval of ECI. But it was clarified that new beneficiaries should not be selected.
In a big jolt, BRS MP, MLA joins Congress
Drain of key leaders from BRS continued and on Sunday its Chevella MP G. Ranjith Reddy and Khairathabad MLA Danam Nagender resigned from the party and joined Congress. Congress Telangana incharge Deepa Munshi and Chief MInister Revanth Reddy welcomed them into the party.
Ranjith Reddy was discontent with the BRS leadership after he was denied renomination from the constituency to contest in the forthcoming elections. The BRS has already announced Kasani Gnaneshwar Mudiraj as its candidate for Chevella, a constituency comprising Assembly segments around Hyderabad.
Though the Congress party had cleared the name of Patnam Sunitha Reddy, wife of former minister Patnam Mahender Reddy, from Chevella, her candidature was withheld at the last minute. The party is now likely to consider Ranjith Reddy for the ticket. Sunitha Reddy, chairperson of Vikarabad Zilla Parishad, had resigned from BRS and joined the Congress in February.
Meanwhile, Danam Nagender, a former minister in Congress government of the combined state, always prefers to stay with a ruling party. Now, Congress is likely to consider him as the party’s Lok Sabha candidate from Secunderabad constituency.
Ranjith Reddy is the fifth sitting MP of BRS to switch loyalties either to the Congress or BJP during the last one month. He is the second BRS MP to quit the party and join the ruling party in as many days. On Saturday, Warangal MP Pasunuri Dayakar resigned from BRS and joined Congress. He too was denied ticket.
Dayakar was discontent after BRS fielded Kadiam Kavya from Warangal (SC). She is the daughter of senior leader and former deputy chief minister Kadiam Srihari. BRS sitting PM from Peddapalli, B. Venkatesh Netha had also joined Congress in February.
Nagarkurnool MP Pothuganti Ramulu along with his son Pothuganti Bharat and Zahirabad MP B. B. Patil joined the BJP last month. The BJP has given tickets to Bharat and Patil from Nagarkurnool and Zahirabad respectively.
Meanwhile, Vardhannapet’s former MLA Aroori Ramesh resigned from BRS on Saturday and joined BJP on Sunday, seeking to contest in the Lok Sabha elections from Warangal. The two-time MLA was defeated in recent assembly polls. As BRS ignored his pleas for Lok Sabha seat, since fifteen days he is attempting to join BJP. Two times, senior BRS leaders intervened and halted his journey to BJP.
