The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Telugu Desam asks poll panel to take action against Congress leaders

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 30, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Telugu Desam asks poll panel to take action against Congress leaders

Staff Reporter

Violation of election code in Penukonda constituency alleged

HYDERABAD: The Telugu Desam Party on Sunday urged the Election Commission to step in and initiate action against Congress leaders violating the model code of conduct in Penukonda of Anantapur district, which is going to the polls on June 2.

On Sunday afternoon, TDP leaders, including K. Yerran Naidu, MP, and former Ministers K. Vidyadhar Rao and K. Vijayarama Rao, said if the EC did not act against people flouting the rule of law and the model code of conduct, voters in Penukonda constituency would react with the power of the ballot.

Clippings furnished

The TDP leaders met the Joint CEO, V. Anil Kumar, and lodged their complaint complete with copies of news clippings and a television bulletin from a private channel which indicated the purported violation of the law by the Ministers J.C. Diwakar Reddy (Panchayati Raj) and N. Raghuveera Reddy in Penukonda.

They told Mr. Anil Kumar how the Congress leaders were using convoys exceeding three vehicles and how they were trying to woo voters either with promises or handing out threats telling local leaders what they would lose if they did not vote for the Congress. The television clipping showed Mr. Raghuveera Reddy promising Rs. 2 crores as loans at 3 per cent interest in Kanaganapalli mandal alone.

Law violated

Mr. Naidu alleged that the Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Government was "killing democracy" and that the two Ministers, with active cooperation from the district administration, were breaking every rule in the book. Media reports and complaints from the Opposition to the CEO were not working, as were notices served by the EC, they said. In such circumstances, the only answer was to stop the convoys of the Ministers and detain them.

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