Excise Minister Srinivas Goud participating in election campaign in Munugode.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday requested the Election Commission of India (ECI) to immediately shift the Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat as he has been working in the same post for the last six years, since 2016.
In a memorandum submitted to the ECI, Minister of state for External Affairs V. Muralidharan, national general secretary Tarun Chugh, former MLC N. Ramchander Rao and others explained that the Munugode Assembly constituency, which is going for the bypoll, falls under the police commissionerate, and continuation of the police official in the top post is in violation of the guidelines issued by it.
The guidelines say that if an official has completed three years in the post during the last four years or would be completing three years on or before the last day of the six months, such officials should be shifted out of the Assembly constituency limit with immediate effect.
‘25,000 bogus voters’
Later, talking to the media, the BJP leaders accused the ruling Telangana Rastra Samiti (TRS) of having enrolled 25,000 bogus voters in the constituency, considering that in the previous enrolment, no more than 2,000 voters got themselves registered.
Seeking removal of such ‘bogus’ voters, the party delegation charged that the TRS MLAs and MLCs have laid siege to the constituency to influence the voters. The revenue and police officials working in the area for many years should be shifted out as their services are being misused, they claimed.
The party leaders wanted the EC to not only send election observers for the bypoll but also Central paramilitary forces because the TRS will leave no stone unturned to bag the seat though the BJP is confident of winning with a big majority.
Meanwhile, former Minister Eatala Rajender continued his tirade against the government as he campaigned in the constituency in favour of K. Rajgopal Reddy. He charged Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao of spending huge amounts of money during every election after he came to power in 2014 in utter disregard to the EC norms.
“How did TRS collect so much money in hundreds of crores and is now even buying a private plane? People of Telangana need to know the source of funding for the party,” he demanded. Most of the money has come from illegal land deals, he charged and claimed that the bypoll is a battle between democracy, justice, fair play as against arrogance and high-handed attitude of the TRS regime.
