ANANTAPUR: The State government suspended another senior official over irregularities in the voters’ list. M Shoba Swaroopa Rani, the then Zilla Parishad CEO of Anantapur district, who was currently serving as a gazetted instructor at the Extension Training Centre in Bapatla, was suspended on Monday.
It may be noted that two senior officials were suspended in the last two days for allegedly deleting 1,116 names from the voters’ list in Urvakonda Assembly Constituency in 2020-21. The move comes after Urvakonda MLA Payavula Keshav lodged a complaint alleging that all those whose names were deleted from the voters’ list were TDP sympathisers. In a subsequent probe by the Election Commission of India (ECI), the charges against the officers were found to be true.
Acting on the orders of the ECI, the State government issued orders placing Swaroopa Rani under suspension with immediate effect. However, she was asked not to leave Bapatla district headquarters.
The suspension of both officials would continue until the disciplinary proceedings against them were concluded.
It may be noted that Swaroopa Rani and Bhaskar Reddy were posted as Electoral Registration Officers in Urvakonda. They were initially accused of removing around 6,000 voters’ names from the list. However, the ECI probe team found that 1,116 names were deleted from the list.