The meeting was held after it was reported that two individuals associated with I-PAC were allegedly collecting voter data on behalf of YSRCP.
Published Feb 06, 2024 | 10:12 PM ⚊ Updated Feb 06, 2024 | 10:15 PM
TDP delegation speaking with the CEO.
A delegation of TDP members consisting of the party’s state president Kinjarapu Atchannaidu, and TDP politburo member Varla Ramaiah met the Chief Election Officer (CEO) at the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat on Tuesday, 6 February.
According to the press release by the TDP, the meeting was held after it was reported that two individuals associated with I-PAC were allegedly collecting voter data on behalf of the ruling YSRCP.
During the meeting, Ramaiah raised concern about this matter to the CEO.
“The CEO acknowledged the issue saying any kind of breach of information from the office is not acceptable. He added that the information server is maintained by the Election Commission of India,” said the party in its press release.
Recently, it was reported that two individuals associated with I-PAC, the strategy consultancy working for YSRCP, were working with the Election Commission and were selectively collecting data about voters.
“It is a known fact that there are two people from I-PAC who have been working with your office for the past two years. They also have access to sensitive information, “ Ramaiah said to the CEO.
The Chief Election Officer asserted that the server is not maintained by them; but by the Election Commission of India. “Leakage of any information from the Chief Election Officer is not acceptable,” he added.
Ever since the YSRCP came to power, it has faced criticism from the TDP and the Jana Sena Party over blurring the roles of government employees and party workers.
This criticism followed reforms in the panchayat and village sector through GO 104 in 2019, where volunteers were introduced.
Opposition parties alleged that most volunteers were campaigning for the YSRCP while delivering door-to-door services.
The allegations regarding the electoral rolls have surfaced after the creation of another system in April 2020 — village secretariats and ward secretariats — through GO 33.
Now, the village secretariats and ward secretariats are employed as booth-level agents in some locations by the Election Commission.
The Opposition parties are alleging a nexus between employees and deleting votes through voter profiling, inconveniencing opposition voters.
Most recently, TDP Chief Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan met with the CEO and their office on their visit to Andhra Pradesh after submitting allegations of discrepancies in voter rolls.
The ECI recently proposed the suspension of an IAS officer, along with two additional officers and three outsourcing employees.
They are accused of downloading 34,000 EPICs without authorisation between March and April 2021 in the Tirupati, during the Lok Sabha by-elections.
The TDP now demands a CBI inquiry into the state election commission office, alleging that two resources associated with I-PAC are working in the Election Commission’s office.
The I-PAC is a poll consultancy working for YS Jagan for the second time.
Speaking to the media after submitting the complaint, the state TDP president and former minister Atchen Naidu said, “We have demanded a CBI inquiry, and the same has been submitted to the Central Election Commission office by our parliamentary members.”
Further, Bonda Uma, former TDP minister and politburo member, says that at least 10,000 votes have been applied for transfer from Vijayawada West to Vijayawada Central after the shuffling of the West YSRCP MLA to Central.
Read our earlier report on the curious case of the dead requesting the deletion of their names from the voters’ list in Andhra Pradesh.
