Chief Electoral Officer Shashank Goel was said to have ordered an inquiry into charges over the alleged irregularities during the transport of VVPATs (voter verified paper audit trail), control units and other poll material used in the Huzurabad bye-election to the receiving points after polling yesterday.
He asked the Karimnagar district collector and the returning officer to enquire into the complaints and submit a report after the election process was completed. He gave the instructions during a video-conference he conducted with the election officers to review the arrangements being made for counting of votes cast in the bypoll.
The direction follows a complaint lodged by the BJP that there were irregularities in the movement of the election material and that the TRS leaders indulged in replacement of control units. They demanded that the CEO order an inquiry by the CBI into the alleged lapses.
BJP leaders including D. K. Aruna, N. Ramachander Rao, Prakash Reddy, T. Raja Singh and others called on the CEO and submitted a memorandum seeking a detailed inquiry into the alleged lapses. They alleged that a driver was caught on the camera carrying a VVPAT and putting it into a car while the Commission arranged for buses to transport the material.
The buses carrying election material were reportedly stopped at a hotel owned by a TRS leader before proceeding to the receiving point, the S.R.R College in Karimnagar where the election material was supposed to be kept in strong room till the counting process starts in the morning hours of November 2.
Meanwhile, the Chief Electoral Officer had convened a meeting of all political parties to discuss the publication of revised voters’ lists after the special summary revision in 2022.