HYDERABAD: The Chief Electoral Officers of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka will commence their inquiry on Thursday into complaints that Congress leaders and others resorted to "open voting" in the election to the Legislative Council from Local Authorities Constituencies (LACs) on March 17.

This is the first time in the recent past in the State that the Election Commission has ordered a probe by CEOs of two other States into election offences allegedly committed by leaders of the ruling party. The commission has also indefinitely postponed the counting of votes polled in LACs scheduled for March 23.

Mr. Naresh Gupta of Tamil Nadu and Mr. R. Ramaseshan of Karnataka will arrive here by noon on Thursday and meet representatives of political parties at the Lake View Guest House at 4 p.m. before proceeding to the districts to get public feedback on the allegations.

The Commission identified eight districts where it found that the Congress leaders prima facie resorted to open voting or accompanied voters into booths. These districts are Nellore, Chittoor, Srikakulam, Nalgonda, Khammam, Prakasam, Mahabubnagar and Guntur.

The Commission's findings were based on video clippings and newspaper reports furnished by the Telugu Desam Party. Election officials explained that "open voting" (casting vote in the presence of others, including polling officials or by display of the cast vote) amounted to breach of secrecy and exercise of undue influence on other voters.

Both offences are punishable under Section of 171 C of IPC.

Officials to be grilled

Taking the view that open voting would not have been possible without cooperation from polling officials, the Commission identified about 50 such officials for being questioned by the CEOs.

These include those connected with incidents involving VIPs like School Education Minister N. Rajyalakshmi, Revenue Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao, and T. Venkat Rao, G. Muddukrishnama Naidu, V. Venkaiah, S.C.R. Naidu and Mutta Gopalakrishna, all MLAs.

There are no indications whether a re-poll will be ordered in the LACs where the poll laws were violated. Pending a decision by the Commission , the Legislative Council can meet without the members of the LACs once it is constituted, officials clarified.

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