Election Commission of India furious over AP voters list manipulations

AMARAVATI: Taking a serious note on the issue of enrollment of bogus votes and missing of names on voters list in Andhra Pradesh, the Election Commission of India (ECI) asked Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mukesh Kumar Meena to submit immediately a report in New Delhi.

As per the order by ECI, Mukesh Kumar Meena flew to New Delhi and met the Deputy Commissioner for about three hours on Tuesday. A discussion was held on special summary revision of electoral rolls.

Post the meeting, Mukesh shared that a meeting would be held with all political parties in Andhra Pradesh on July 20, 2023. Post that, a meeting would be conducted with district collectors in Visakhapatnam on August 2 and 3.

"Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will undertake a door-to-door survey to enlist voters and remove errors from the electoral list.. Political parties can appoint their agents to accompany the BLOs in the survey," Meena said.

"The ECI officials examined the appointment of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and preparation of voters list in Andhra Pradesh. Printing of voter cards in the State has already been completed. The process of issuing cards to new voters will be completed as soon as possible," he added.

It may be recalled here that a few people’s representatives from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and voluntary organisations in the State had filed a complaint against Andhra Pradesh State Election Commission (SEC) for indiscriminately including and excluding votes and irregularities by officials during the recent MLC elections.

After going through the complaints, the ECI even directed the CEO to initiate action against the officials and police personnel involved in irregularities during elections. The ECI had also asked Mukesh Kumar Meena to bring crucial files along with the AP voters list to New Delhi.