The opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday wrote to the State Election Commissioner (SEC) N Ramesh Kumar, to act on government buildings which had been painted white, blue and green -- the same colours as that of the YSRCP flag.
Stating that this was a violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) which would soon kick in for the local body elections, TDP state president Kala Venkat Rao said that the YSRCP government had painted "gram panchayat buildings, school buildings, road dividers, electric poles and other public structures in its over-excitement."
Stating that the MCC did not allow any candidate to use public property to further their party symbols, Venkat asked the Election Commission to "initiate strict action" against those who were guilty of doing so.
The TDP also asked the EC to exclude village volunteers from the election process, arguing that they were government employees and not volunteers who were sympathetic to the YSRCP party, and could potentially influence the voters.
Earlier this week, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said that elections to the local bodies in Andhra Pradesh would be held within one month as per directions of the High Court.
After a review meeting in Amaravati, officials of the state government on Thursday approached the SEC and said that the machinery was prepared to hold the Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC), Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC), panchayat and municipal elections within the time stipulated by the High Court.
Stating that the responsibility of curtailing the flow of liquor and money during the elections would be given to the district superintendents of police (DSPs), a press release from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said, "Any person found distributing money during the elections would be debarred and also sent to jail for a period of three years."