Amaravati: In the run-up to the forthcoming legislative assembly polls and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh, the Election Commission, led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar, will be visiting the state for two days from Tuesday.
During the visit scheduled on January 9 and 10, Kumar will be accompanied by Election Commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel, an official told PTI. The Election Commission is anticipated to review the poll preparedness of the state and is also expected to meet representatives of political parties.
The EC will also address a press conference on Wednesday evening. On Tuesday, TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu and Janasena chief Pawan Kalyan are expected to meet the election commissioners and lodge a complaint against the YSRCP government, especially on voters’ lists, a TDP source said.
The TDP and YSRCP have already complained against each other to the Election Commission of India (ECI) stating that the voters’ lists have been manipulated. The visit of the top ECI officials comes in the wake of recent Election Commission review meetings in Andhra Pradesh, spearheaded by Senior Deputy Election Commissioners Dharmendra Sharma and Nitish Kumar Vyas.
In December 2023, Sharma and Vyas met with all the district collectors and superintendents of police of the state over poll preparedness.
They directed them to be comprehensively ready with 360-degree planning for the smooth conduct of polls, with the motto ‘No voter to be left behind’, by the time the election notification is issued.
Further, they noted that error-free electoral rolls are key to organising non-controversial polls in a peaceful environment, and said that the voter lists should be verified in such a manner that they do not contain even a single name of a dead person or a double entry. The EC officials also directed the collectors and SPs to properly train the election officials.
