TS govt to CEC: Conduct Lok Sabha polls on the same day in AP and TS

The State government has urged Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora to conduct the Lok Sabha polls in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on the same day to nip chances of double voting as over 20.07 lakh persons are registered voters in both the States. Telangana Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar on Thursday told Express he had discussed the issue with the Chief Election Commissioner during his visit to the city recently. 

Chief Secretary S K Joshi and Director General of Police M Mahender Reddy too expressed concerns of possible foul play and asserted that since the border between the two Telugu states was porous, it was important that Telangana and Andhra Pradesh vote on the same day to bring down malpractice.

If polls are held on different dates, there is a possibility of heightened flow of liquor and money, apart from the “transport of musclemen” from one State to another, political analysts said.

“The CEC heard our case and said that if the State Government feels this way, then the Telangana CEO may present the government’s request before the CEC.  Then the Election Commission will examine the issue based on the request of the State Government,” ECI Rajat Kumar said.

Meanwhile, YSRC State legal cell president P Sudhakar Reddy demanded that the ECI not hold Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Andhra Pradesh going by the present voters list as there are about 59.18 lakh “suspicious names”. “The Andhra government has failed to delete the names of bogus, duplicate and ineligible voters from the electoral rolls. The rolls need to be cleansed by removing bogus votes,” he said and alleged that the ruling party, TDP, which wanted to win the by hook or by crook, was deliberately not rectifying the electoral rolls.