BJP says TRS moved entire Secretariat to Munugode

HYDERABAD: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday accused the Telangana Rashtra Samithi government of “moving the Secretariat from Hyderabad to Munugode” and abusing power by using its staff to unduly influence voters in the constituency.

The BJP also sought intervention of the Election Commission of India to ensure that names of around “25,000 bogus voters enrolled into the Munugode constituency voters’ list” be removed.

The party national general secretary and Telangana affairs in-charge Tarun Chugh told reporters in New Delhi that a large number of TRS ministers have been stationed in Munugode and that “KCR has moved the Secretariat to Munugode. All the ministers who are there are accompanied by officials carrying files. This is highly objectionable.”

Chugh, who was accompanied by BJP MLC from Telangana, N. Ramchander Rao, Union minister V. Muralidharan, senior party leader Pratap Narain Sarang, informed the ECI that the TRS had contrived the inclusion of 24,481 additional voters to the electorate list in the constituency.

"This indicates that the constituency had a dramatic increase in population of almost 40,000 people. Where did all of these individuals originate? This fake population has been planted there by TRS which is making every effort to influence the election,” he alleged.

Meanwhile, Ramchander Rao stated  that the party leaders appealed to the ECI to order the use of 2019 general elections voters' list.

“In the past when new voters were added, the number never usually exceeded 2,000 or so. But this time, the TRS had 25,000 names added, all of these people are from constituencies surrounding Munugode. The ECI said it will look into our submissions and also examine our request for deployment of central government observers and central forces to ensure a free and fair election,” he stated.

To a question of campaigning by TRS ministers and by BJP’s Union ministers in Munugode, Ramchander Rao said in the case of TRS, its ministers had their officials in tow which is against all norms of election code as such officials can influence ground level government staff.

“Our Central ministers are not accompanied by officials. They take part in campaigns or hold a press meet and return. There is no comparison between what TRS ministers are doing and what our leaders do,” he said.