VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) and Vijayawada City Congress Committee jointly organised a protest at Dharna Chowk in Gandhi Nagar, Vijayawada.
Addressing the media, Kolanukonda Shivaji demanded the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and called for his arrest and prosecution. He demanded an independent inquiry into all alleged irregularities in the electoral process, immediate stoppage of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process and restoration of the 13 crore votes he alleged had been deleted.
Shivaji further demanded that the voter data-entry process not be centralised in a manner that renders locally functioning Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) ineffective. He also demanded that the powers of the Election Commission be decentralised to ensure greater transparency and accountability.
He questioned the software-related restrictions that allegedly prevent eligible citizens who have attained the age of 18 from exercising their right to register as voters.
He demanded that the Election Commission explain why such software provisions were permitted without corresponding amendments to the statutory election rules and at whose direction the decisions were taken.
Shivaji further demanded that courts take suo motu cognisance of the allegations relating to “vote theft” and conduct an appropriate judicial inquiry to ascertain the facts and responsibility, if any.
He also called upon Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, YSRCP president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan to publicly state their respective positions on the allegations concerning the Election Commission and the electoral process in Andhra Pradesh.