The ruling YCP that has been making accusations against Election Commission of India (ECI) after it responded seriously against poll- related violent incidents, in which YCP MLAs/MLA candidates found violated model code, has now complained against AP Chief Electoral Officer Mukesh Kumar Meena.
It has complained to the Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar regarding the consideration of postal ballots stating that the CEO’s orders were against the EC guidelines. YCP Rajya Sabha member S. Niranjan Reddy appealed to the CEC to review the recent orders given by the AP CEO in this regard.
In the complaint, Niranjan Reddy stated that due to the EC issuing directions to collect specimen signatures of the attesting officers, valid postal ballots would be rejected and the integrity of the election process would be disturbed.
In a mail sent to Rajiv Kumar, the MP stated that the directions issued on May 25 regarding the collection of specimen signatures of the attesting officers who have signed the postal ballot papers are contrary to the guidelines given earlier by the ECI.
It may be recalled that the YCP has been objecting to the order issued by the Chief Electoral Officer of the state relaxing the postal ballot rules and even approached the High Court.
Niranjan Reddy says that in the guidelines issued by the Election Commission on July 19 last year, it has been stated that the attesting officer should sign the postal ballot declaration form and accept it even if his name and status details are handwritten even if there is no stamp. It is alleged that these regulations are being implemented in all the states.
However, in the wake of TDP complaints, Meena directed returning officers to collect the specimen signatures of the attesting officers appointed and send them to the Collectors, District Electoral Officers and RVOs of all the districts.
However, as per these instructions even if the attesting officer has not signed and recorded the details, the votes should be considered against the specimen signatures available with the AROs.
The YCP has argued that the process of comparing the signatures with the samples has led to conflicts among the agents and created security problems. It is demanding that the exemptions given in AP in the counting of postal ballots be canceled.
