Hyderabad: The publication of final voters’ list has been postponed from October 8 to October 12. Chief Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat on Saturday said in Delhi that the EC has decided to submit the final voters list to the High Court before publication.
According to original schedule announced by the EC in September after the dissolution of the TS Assembly, the deadline for publication of final voters list was October 8. However, the Congress has filed a case in Supreme Court alleging presence of several lakhs of bogus voters in the draft electoral rolls. The SC referred the case to Hyderabad High Court, which in turn directed the EC to submit the final list by October 8.
Since the case is pending in the High Court, the publication of final list has been postponed to October 12, subject to the final outcome of the case and subsequent legal developments.
Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar, who addressed a press meet here on Saturday, said, “The issue of when to publish the final list comes under the jurisdiction of the EC. However, we will implement the directions of the High Court to be issued on this issue.”
Mr Kumar has directed all collectors and officials to immediately remove the publicity boards, flexies comprising of pictures of the CM, ministers and MLAs etc on government buildings and in government advertisements since the election schedule has been announced and model code of conduct came into force with immediate effect.
Orders were also issued to stop government advertisements and also stop usage of government vehicles by ministers. Mr Rajat Kumar said a 24-hour complaint cell has been started with toll-free number 1950 to lodge complaints on poll violations.
He said all the collectors have been asked to submit daily reports of all districts on elections. He also directed collectors to submit within 72 hours a list of development programmes being implemented and warned that if any new programme is launched, they can be punished for violating the code of conduct.
Mr Kumar also said that the new voters can enrol their names till 10 days prior to the commencement of filing of nominations.
