VOCAL PROTEST: Telugu Desam Party leaders and activists staging a dharna near Prakasam Bhavan at Ongole on Friday demanding fresh revision of voter lists. - Photo: Sreenivas Kommuri

ONGOLE: Telugu Desam Party activists staged a dharna near Prakasam Bhavan here on Friday demanding the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to take up enrolment of voters afresh in Prakasam district.

They alleged that revenue officials resorted to several irregularities at the behest of ruling party leaders to enrol bogus voters on one hand and remove the names of genuine voters on the other. They demanded cancellation of the enrolment programme and take it up afresh under the supervision of Election Commission officials.

A large number of TDP activists from all mandals gathered at the Collectorate by 11 a.m. and raised slogans holding party flags, banners and placards. TDP district president and Addanki MLA Karanam Balaramakrishna Murthi, former Ministers — Damacharla Anjaneyulu, J. Lakshmi Padmavathi — and former MLAs — Divi Sivaram, P. Sai Kalpana, Bachina Chenchu Garataiah, P. David Raju — and Zilla Parishad chairman Mukku Kasi Reddy participated in the hour-long dharna.

Deletion of names

They said that several complaints were filed at village and mandal levels about inclusion and deletion of names from voter lists. But officials did not take them seriously. Saying that officials intentionally committed mistakes, they expressed no hope that they would be set right now.

They demanded that officials to conduct a re-survey of voters in every village and prepare the lists more transparently.

They wanted the CEO to appoint an honest officer to inquire into complaints and take action against erring officials. They wanted the Election Commission to depute its own officials to inquire into complaints about inclusion and deletion of names.

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