A day after the State Election Commission (SEC) in Andhra Pradesh issued orders to keep ward volunteers away from the municipal election process to maintain neutrality, the state government has challenged the directions in the High Court. State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar on Sunday had issued directions to district authorities asking them not to assign any election related duty, such as distribution of voter slips, to ward volunteers. The SEC also asked district authorities to keep the volunteers’ phones in safe custody, as the database of beneficiaries of government schemes “is likely to be leveraged and misused.”
Village and ward volunteers are responsible for last-mile delivery of welfare schemes in the state. They identify beneficiaries and ensure delivery of services, including door delivery of pension. The volunteer system was introduced by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government in 2019. SEC Ramesh Kumar said that the directions to keep volunteers away from municipal polls was taken following consultations with representatives of various political parties, who complained of volunteers trying to influence the outcome of the recently held panchayat elections.
Andhra Pradesh is set to hold elections for its urban local bodies on March 10, when 12 municipal corporations and 75 municipalities will go to polls. Counting of votes will take place on March 14.
Challenging the SEC’s directions in the High Court, Principal Secretary Ajay Jain has called them “unilateral”, “anti-constitutional” and violative of the Panchayat Raj Act rules and regulations, according to The New Indian Express.
The government has argued that without their phones, volunteers will be unable to distribute pensions as they need the devices to access beneficiary details, and to verify fingerprints and authenticate beneficiaries. Claiming that the ward and village volunteers are not affiliated to any political party, Advocate General S Sriram reportedly stated that there was no evidence of volunteers attempting to influence voters during the recent panchayat elections.
Stating that the SEC can take action against individual volunteers in case of any specific instances where they have tried to influence election outcomes, the Advocate General argued that the entire volunteer system must not be interrupted.