Election Commission team in Telangana to review poll preparedness

An Election Commission team arrived here on Monday on a three-day visit to review poll preparedness in Telangana.

The 11-member team, led by Chief Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat, met representatives of nine recognised political parties.

Two representatives from each party were given 19 minutes to voice their views. The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), opposition Congress, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and other parties made their submissions before the team.

The Congress party raised the issue of alleged discrepancies in voter list. Its leader M. Shashidhar Reddy told the CEC that names of many voters were missing from the revised list.

BJP's N. Indrasena Reddy complained about bogus voters, especially in Hyderabad. He told the EC team that no action was taken despite repeated complaints in this regard.

CPI's Chada Venkat Reddy urged the EC to take measures to effectively curb the money power in elections.

After hearing the political parties, the EC team met Telangana's Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar and senior police officials to review the poll preparedness.

The team is scheduled to meet all the electoral officers and Superintendents of police of all the districts on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the election panel will hold meetings with senior officials of Income Tax Department, Railways, Airport and various banks.

The elections to the 119-member Telangana assembly are scheduled to be held on December 7.

The assembly polls were originally scheduled to be held along with Lok Sabha elections next year, but the TRS government decided to go in for early elections by dissolving the Assembly.

--IANS

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