VIJAYAWADA: Asserting that the Election Commission of India (ECI) never stops the implementation of schemes, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mukesh Kumar Meena on Tuesday clarified that the ECI only suggested the government to defer some of the schemes till the completion of polling in the State on May 13 and sought further clarifications concerning some other schemes.
Speaking to mediapersons in his chambers at the State Secretariat on Tuesday, the CEO said the Screening Committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary sent its recommendations to the CE through the CEO on implementation of various schemes.
Almost 50 such recommendations have gone to the EC. The poll body accepted some and suggested that the others be deferred till the completion of MCC or till the conclusion of elections in the State. With regard to schemes like Cheyutha and Aasara, the ECI had asked for further clarifications and in the case of Vidya Deevena, the ECI had asked the government to defer its implementation till the completion of elections on May 13, he explained.
3.03 lakh cast votes through postal ballot
Observing that the number of postal ballots to be polled in these will elections will be almost double compared to around two lakh polled in the 2019 elections, Meena said that of the total 4.30 lakh persons who opted for the postal ballot including home voting, 3.03 lakh (70%) exercised their franchise by Tuesday. Saying that the home voting and postal ballot voting commenced in the State from May 3 and 4, he said out of the total 4.30 lakh voters who applied for postal ballot, 3.20 lakh are employees, 40,000 are police personnel, 28,000 persons under home voting (voters aged above 85 years and persons with disabilities) and 31,000 persons under essential services category and remaining are sector officers and others. Among these, 2.76 lakh employees have exercised their franchise through postal ballot at facilitation centres across the state till Tuesday.
He said that for reasons like the delay in employees getting their election duty appointment orders and others, the Commission extended the time for them to use their postal ballot voting till May 9. However, they will have to visit the voter facilitation centres in their respective constituencies, he said.
Going by the complaints that employees utilising the postal ballot voting are being offered money for casting their votes, Meena, while expressing concern that it was a bad sign for the postal ballot facility with some employees accepting bribes for casting their votes, cautioned that stringent action will be taken against such persons. Besides being kept under suspension, cases will also be booked against them, he said.
Informing that four people were arrested and cases were booked for distributing money to employees at the facilitation centres at Tadepalligudem of West Godavari district, the CEO said that a police constable with a list of government employees was caught for allegedly distributing money among postal ballot voters. The constable was suspended.
In Ongole, after learning that money was transferred to the bank accounts of employees through UPI, the district SP took up the inquiry based on the call recording data and bank account transactions. During the preliminary investigation, it was noticed that some employees accepted money for their postal ballot and some of them after learning about the inquiry transferred the money back.
Postal ballot voting extended till May 9
A total of 4.30 lakh voters applied for postal ballot. CEO Mukesh Kumar Meena explained that for reasons like the delay in employees getting their election duty appointment orders and other issues, the Election Commission of India extended the time for them to cast their vote through postal ballot till May 9