ONGOLE: Days after the draft electoral rolls were released in the State, district authorities in Prakasam received 19,179 applications under Forms 6,7 and 8 during a two-day special drive. As many as 5,382 Form-6 applications were received under Form-6 for new enrolments, 3,738 requests were received under Form-7 for deletion of a particular person/voter from the electoral rolls due to various reasons, including death, permanent migration, etc and 10,059 Form-8 applications for correction in existing entries.
District Collector AS Dinesh Kumar said, “Officials of the State Election Commission and staff have been directed to take utmost care in clearing all the applications received through the recent two-day special drive.” In a warning to the State officials, he said strict action would be taken if anyone is found to be negligent.
CM’s photo on woman’s voter ID
The authorities are determined to ensure that there are no errors in the voters’ list as a few days ago a picture of a woman’s voter ID with an image of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy went viral on social media platforms. The woman, identified as J Guravamma, was from Y Cherlopalli village in Dornala mandal of Yerragondapalem constituency. She told TNIE that she had submitted her Aadhaar card and photo a year ago for her enrollment onto the voters’ list.
The incident triggered a political slugfest as leaders of Opposition parties lodged complaints with the officials concerned and alleged that there were many such mistakes, errors and intentional frauds in the voters’ lists of several Assembly constituencies. Subsequently, the district Collector ordered the Mandal Revenue Officer (MRO)/Tahsildar concerned to inquire into the issue.
The Tahsildar informed Kumar that a volunteer had attached the CM’s picture to the woman’s voter ID by mistake and that neither the booth-level officer (BLO) nor the supervisors noticed it. They have been directed to submit an explanation. The district Collector said further action will be taken as per the directions from the higher authorities.