The Election Commission in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday suspended the Presiding Officers and Assistant Presiding Officers of five polling booths in Chandragiri constituency after they were charged with dereliction of duties. The suspension was announced by the Chittoor Joint Collector, who said that the POs and APOs; Muralikrishna, Chenchaiah, Gunasekhar, Janakiram, Mahaboob, Madhu, Sridevi, Muralidhar, Venkatramana and Gangadharaiah, allegedly showed favoritism during the elections held on April 11.
All of them were working in the Education Department in the district and were suspended with immediate effect pending initiation of disciplinary action.
A total of seven polling booths went for re-polling in Chandragiri on May 19. The EC took the decision following an appeal for re-poll by YSRCP contestant Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy, who had filed a complaint with AP's Chief Electoral Officer Gopala Krishna Dwivedi earlier this month, alleging that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) resorted to malpractice on the day of polling. He alleged that the TDP denied voters belonging to a particular community from casting their votes.
Chandragiri witnessed an intense battle between Chevireddy and Pulivarthi Nani from TDP.
Authorities had submitted a report on the alleged malpractices along with CCTV footage, following which the EC took the decision. However, this did not go down well with the TDP, which accused the EC of taking a decision that was “unethical and unconstitutional.”
Earlier on May 6 also, re-polling was held in five polling booths of Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore districts, as the respective booths saw violence and alleged malpractices.
As many as 175 assembly constituencies and 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in Andhra Pradesh which went for simultaneous polls on April 11, are awaiting the announcement of results on May 23. Meanwhile, YSRCP National General Secretary Vijaya Sai Reddy has appealed to the EC to deploy additional central forces during counting to avoid any untoward incidents.