Committed to ensure inducement-free polls in Telangana: CEC

Hyderabad: The Election Commission of India is fully committed to deliver free, fair, transparent and inducement-free elections in Telangana, said Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Thursday.

He was addressing a news conference at the end of three-day visit to Hyderabad to review poll preparedness for the forthcoming Assembly elections in Telangana

The ECI team, which met all state and central enforcement agencies during the visit, directed them to act very strictly against the use of money power during the elections. “Loud and clear message was given to each one of them to act very strictly against the use of money power during elections. They were directed to almost dry up the inflow of liquor, cash, freebies and drugs,” he said.

“This perception or actual reality of misuse of money power, freebies distribution by various political parties or candidates doesn’t augur well for democracy,” he added.

The agencies were directed to identify kingpins of each malpractice. Banks have been directed to keep a watch on illicit online cash transfers through wallets. State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBS) were told to not allow cash dispensing vehicles to move after designated hours. Special vigil will be kept on ambulances and even on government vehicles if the agencies doubt that they are being misused.

There will be strict vigil on inter-state borders. He pointed out that 17 districts in Telangana share borders with four states — Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.

There will be a total of 148 total check posts, including 89 police check posts and 21 excise check posts.

All helipads and airstrips will be monitored. All enforcement agencies have been asked to work in a cohesive and coordinated manner.

State enforcement agencies have been directed to identify sensitive goods with high probable use for distribution. They were told to keep a vigil on warehouses/godowns used for stockpiling liquor and freebies.

Checking of cargo movement through non-scheduled chartered flights will also be taken up.

Citizens can use cVigil mobile app to report Model Code of Conduct (MCC) violations. “This will be extremely useful for us to curb the use of money power or any freebies. On this app you can take photos of anything, which is wrong, happening anywhere like distribution of money, liquor and freebies and post them. Your name will not be revealed,” he said.

The complaint will be verified in 100 minutes and the complainant will be informed about action taken.

The political parties demanded that the elections should be inducement-free. They requested that money power, liquor and freebies distribution should be curbed.

The parties also urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to ensure purity of electoral rolls, deploy central armed police forces at critical locations and deploy micro observers in polling stations, especially in urban areas. They also demanded steps for impersonation and vigil on hate speech in social media.

There are a total of 3.17 crore voters in 119 Assembly constituencies in the state. He said it is a happy position that male and female voters are equal in numbers at 1.58 crore.

He appealed to all voters to participate in the forthcoming elections by casting their votes and celebrating the festival of democracy.

A total of 22 lakh voters were deleted in 2022 and 2023 through an intensive process. He said 14 lakh dead/duplicate/shifted voters deleted during 2022 while 7.9 lakh were deleted in 2023.

He clarified that deletions from the voter list were not done suo moto but only after receiving form-7 and ground verification. All safeguards were taken against wrongful deletions.

On the complaints that some houses have a large number of voters, the CEC said all households having more than six voters were verified across the state. A total of 7.66 lakh houses with over 75.97 lakh voters were identified and of them 4.15 lakh voters identified for address correction.

The state has 35,356 polling stations with average 897 voters per polling station. There are 14,458 polling stations in urban areas and 20,898 polling stations in rural areas.

Webcasting of polling will be arranged from 22,798 (78 per cent) polling stations. 

On enhanced voter experience, he said model polling stations increased from 119 in 2018 to 644 in 2023.

There will be 120 polling stations managed by persons with disabilities, 597 managed by women and 119 by youths.

For the first time in Telangana, the facility will be available to 4.43 lakh senior citizens of 80 plus to vote from the comfort of their homes, if they want. They have to fill form 12 D within five days of notification. Persons with a disability of 40 per cent or more can also vote from home.