Of them, 38 of them were working in the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), while the remaining 68 were working in the MGNREGS.
Former BJP MLA and the current Medak Lok Sabha Candidate of saffron party Raghunandan Rao had complained to ECI about the meeting by the BRS candidate without permission. (CCTV Screengrab)
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has suspended 106 government employees in one go in Telangana for attending political meetings.
The district election officer (DEO) and collector of Siddipet on 8 April ordered the suspension of 106 government employees for attending a meeting of Medak’s BRS Lok Sabha candidate Venkatram Reddy in Siddipet town. The candidate is a current MLC and a former collector of Siddipet.
Former BJP MLA and the current Medak Lok Sabha candidate Raghunandan Rao had complained to the ECI about the meeting by the BRS candidate — allegedly held without permission.
The assistant returning officer of the Siddipet Assembly Segment within the Medak Lok Sabha constituency and the revenue divisional officer of Siddipet received a telephonic message from Raghunandan Rao on 7 April alleging that BRS was conducting an unauthorised meeting in violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) — in place due to the ensuing Lok Sabha Elections — at the Reddy Function Hall in Siddipet.
He added that some District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) staff were attending the party meeting and money distribution was also going on.
“Immediately, the Flying Squad and Surveillance Team (FST) was directed to take necessary action, and inspected Reddy Function Hall Siddipet at about 10 PM on 7 April,” said the election officer.
The team allegedly found 10-15 persons were still in the meeting, and collected CCTV Footage from the management of Reddy Function Hall.
Inspecting the CCTV footage, they found that BRS leaders conducted the meeting on 7 April in the function hall without obtaining any valid permission from the assistant returning officer of the Siddipet Assembly segment in violation of the MCC, noted the election officer in his order.
An FIR was also lodged at the Siddipet-III Town Police station against BRs leaders Venkatram Reddy Parupally and Ravinder Reddy Mareddy for conducting the unauthorised meeting in violation of the MCC.
The officers also concluded from the CCTV footage that DRDA staff attended the meeting, and called for necessary action against them.
The election officer, in his order, said that 106 staff members of DRDA Siddipet (MGNREGS & SERP) had been placed under suspension with immediate effect.
He noted that the action was taken in view of the circumstances and after careful examination of the report of the assistant returning officer of Siddipet and the DRDA.
The 106 employees work in different wings of the DRDA. While 38 of them were working in the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), the remaining 68 were working in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
(Edited by Arkadev Ghoshal)
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