Will do justice, Election Commission to turmeric ryots

HYDERABAD: The Election Commission (EC) plans to seek a report on the turmeric farmers from Telangana and Tamil Nadu who filed their nominations from Varanasi constituency. If required, they have also agreed to send a team to verify the allegations made by the farmers on the obstacles created by local officials.
“A team of four officials under the leadership of deputy commissioner Chandra Bhushan Kumar have taken our complaint letter and assured that they will send a team after getting the report,” Kotapati Narsimham Naidu, Telangana turmeric farmers association told TOI over phone.
Officials had given the farmers 30 minutes and assured them that they will do justice, but farmers insisted that action be taken against officials who created obstacles for them on purpose.
“The election commission officials agreed that there is no need to insist on challans from candidates. However, officials in Varanasi not only insisted on bank challans, but also delayed giving it out,” said Naidu.
The turmeric farmers also alleged that their nominations were rejected without reason. In the three-page long complaint seeking action against Varanasi officials, they alleged that the Varanasi police had raided the hotel Silk City where they were staying on April 27 and 28 and deliberately continued searching for four hours, which prevented them from filing their nomination as independents. Farmers also alleged that on April 29 officials insisted that the farmers pay using bank challans instead of cash.