ANANTAPUR: Deletion of names of genuine voters without following due procedure prescribed under Election Commission rules, and violation of the registration of electors rules, 1960, in the Uravakonda assembly constituency in this district in 2021 has led to the suspension of another official.
The official, Swarpoopa Rani, was ZP chief executive officer and returning officer of Uravakonda segment. Rani is currently serving as Gazetted rank instructor at extension training centre in Bapatla.
Special chief secretary B. Rajasekhar issued the suspension orders on her. As CEO, she was reportedly responsible for deletion of 1796 votes in the Uravakonda segment, he said.
Notably, a complaint had been filed by Uravakonda TD MLA Payyavula Kesav to the Election Commission (ECI) along with evidence over the deletion of names of genuine voters in several villages. A team of the EC conducted a probe and confirmed such irregularities from the returning officer. The official had not responded to representations by the genuine voters whose names had been deleted from the voters list, it was found.
It is also pointed out that the present ZP CEO, Bhaskar Reddy, had earlier been put under suspension by the special chief secretary on August 19 over irregularities like deletion of names of 1116 voters during 2020-21 from the electoral roll of the same constituency.
Uravakonda MLA Payyavula Kesav told Deccan Chronicle that the returning officers were involved in deletion of hundreds of votes in small villages following directions from YSRC leaders.
In addition, at least 7 BLOs were also suspended in Anantapur and Kadapa districts over similar irregularities.
