Leaders of the Andhra Pradesh Joint Action Committee (JAC) Amaravati on May 7 (Tuesday) appealed to Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mukesh Kumar Meena to extend the timing for voting through postal ballots beyond May 8 and to take appropriate measures on the issues pertaining to alleged deviations in postal ballots in Anakapalli and Chilakaluripet constituencies.
In a representation, JAC Chairman Bopparaju Venkateswarlu and general secretary P. Damodara Rao said as per the norms pertaining to general voters with EVMs, each polling station should not have more than 1,000 to 1,500 voters. If the number exceeds, an auxiliary polling station should be created to complete the voting process in time. In case of voting through postal ballots, each facilitation centre has more than 10,000 voters who cast their votes manually.
They said the election authorities should extend the time beyond May 8 to ensure that all employees could exercise their franchise. They urged the CEO to increase the number of counters at the facilitation centres.
They said the CEO should verify the process of voting through postal ballot in Anakapalli and Chilakaluripet constituencies and take steps to validate the votes cast by the employees drafted for election duty in the two constituencies.
