YS Jagan Asks EC To Prevent Election Malpractices In AP

Leader of Opposition in Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly and YSRCP president, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy met the Election Commissioners in New Delhi on Monday. He was accompanied by his party MPs and YSRCP leaders. Addressing the media after his interaction with the chief election commissioner and other ECs, YS Jagan said that Chandrababu Naidu is making a mockery of democracy in Andhra Pradesh and that they had brought this to the notice of the Election Commission along with evidence.

The YSRCP sought the early intervention of EC in the matter to ensure a free and fair election execrise in Andhra Pradesh. The YSRCP supremo said that they briefed the EC at length on manipulation of electoral rolls and how 59,18000 ineligible voters were added to the electoral rolls in the state. He pointed out that of these, 20 lakh voters had two votes in both AP and Telangana. YS Jagan and his party leaders explained to the EC at length how the ruling party in the state doubled the votes of TDP sympathisers while it systematically deleted the names of those it viewed as YSRCP voters.

YS Jagan also told the election commissioners about how this was being done in the name of Praja Sadhikara Survey and real time governance, how these survey teams were given tabs through which they could delete the names of voters who were considered sympathisers of YSRCP. These tabs also linked the names of the voters to their Aadhaar/voter card. The YSRCP chief also revealed to the Election Commissioner that the Chandrababu Naidu government had reduced police officials to mere puppets. He cited the instance of 35 CIs promoted out of turn as DSPs. Incidentally all of them belonged to the same community as Chandrababu Naidu, he added. This was done with an eye on manipulating elections using government machinery, he said. YS Jagan also briefed the Election Commission on the way in which Chandrababu Naidu created a post called DIG (Law and Order Coordination) and posted his hand-picked officer, Ghattamaneni Srinivas with the clear intention of hampering the fair election process. He also emphasised the fact that the DIG in question belongs to Chandrababu Naidu's community as does another police official Additional DG AB Venkateswara Rao on whom the CM leans heavily, he pointed out. He also said that DGP Thakur was hand in glove with the TDP government.

YS Jagan referred to the murder attempt which took place on him on October 25, 2018 and recalled how the DGP had within an hour of the attack come to a conclusion on the attacker and his motive. DGP Thakur had described the assailant Srinivasa Rao as a YSRCP sympathiser and a YS Jagan fan who attacked his 'idol' for publicity.

The AP Leader of Opposotion sought the removal of these three top cops to ensure that the Chandrababu Naidu government wouldn't use using the police machinery with his ill-gotten wealth to vitiate a free and fair election process. YS Jagan also added that his party would approach the ministry of home affairs in this regard as also the governor of Andhra Pradesh. When asked about AP chief minister Chandrababu Naidu's demand for ballot papers, YS Jagan posed a counter question. He said he wanted to ask Chandrababu Naidu through the media whether he rigged the 2014 elections using EVMs when the Telugu desam won the election with a slender 1% majority. He also cited the example of recent polls when the Congress swept the three Northern states of MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Is this proof of tampering? he questioned. The YSRCP chief added that it was the BJP which was in poweer in these states which lost the elections and that it would have done everything it could to stay in power using EVMs. Clearly, that was not the case, he added. Chandrababu should have some logic to what he says, but appears to be driven only by a fear of defeat now, YS Jagan said.

YS Jagan handed over copy of a book documenting the saga of corruption under Chandrababu Naidu in Andhra Pradesh to buttress his claim that the AP CM would pump in his ill-gotten wealth in a big way to get votes in the upcoming elections.

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