N. Chandrababu Naidu, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, on the 10th of April, conducted a meeting with Gopal Krishna Dwivedi, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Andhra Pradesh (AP.)
Mr. Naidu is dissatisfied with the continuous raids, transfers and biased treatment of the Election Commission (EC) of Andhra, following which, he met Gopal Krishna Dwivedi and expressed his disappointment regarding the same.
Recently, the Election Commission of India (ECI,) based on the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party’s (YSRCP) complaint, transferred 3 Indian Public Service (IPS) officers of Andhra Pradesh. In another such complaint, the ECI transferred S.K. Joshi, the Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh, and recently, replaced Dr. Koya Praveen, the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Prakasam district, Ongole city, AP.
Apart from this, the EC also ordered the Income Tax (IT) Department to conduct several raids at the properties of many Telugu Desam Party (TDP) members.
In the context of the transfer of IPS officers, Mr. Naidu, on the 27th of March, wrote a letter to Sunil Arora, the Chief Election Commissioner of India. In his letter, Naidu said, he slammed the EC and said, the actions of the EC is deliberately helping the YSRCP and its President, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Mr. Naidu asked the ECI to explain the reason behind targeting the TDP members ahead of the AP Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
Mr. Naidu, on the 10th of April, wrote another letter to the Central Election Commission and sought an explanation regarding the IT raids at the residence of Galla Jayadeva.
The IT Department, on the 9th of April, raided the house of Jayadeva and two other locations, where his team members and the TDP workers were staying.
Naidu, the President of the TDP, alleged the ECI and the EC of Andhra Pradesh of following the orders of the Modi led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and of working for the Party like a puppet.
The Naidu led TDP raised a question as to why the TDP members are on the target list of the ECI and the IT Department, when the YSRCP and the JanaSena Party are also going to contest the AP Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
Andhra Pradesh will contest a total of 175 seats and 25 seats in the upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections respectively. The elections in the State are scheduled on the 11th of April.
The major parties contesting the Andhra Pradesh Assembly and Lok Sabha elections are the JanaSena Party, the YSRCP and the TDP.
The results of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly and Lok Sabha elections will be declared on the 23rd of May 2019.
Stay tuned for further updates about the Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections and Lok Sabha elections.
