Village and ward volunteers, appointed by the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh, who have been playing major role in the elections at the grassroots level, can no more take part in any election duties in the state hereafter.
According to the latest orders issued by Mukesh Kumar Meena, chief electoral officer of Andhra, on behalf of the Election Commission of India, the village and ward volunteers cannot handle any election-related activities.
Meena gave instructions to all the Collectors and District Election Officers in Andhra Pradesh that the village and ward volunteers, paid salaries by the government, should be kept away from all election related activities if they have been involved.
He reiterated that the volunteers should not be made polling agents of any candidate.
“All the District Election Officers are requested that, these instructions shall also be communicated to all the Returning Officers/ Asst. Returning Officers and all the concerned for strict compliance,” the CEO said.
It may be mentioned that the village and ward volunteers were appointed in August 2019, primarily to take the benefits of various welfare schemes of the Jagan government including pensions, essential commodities, medicines and vaccinations to the doorsteps of the common man.
However, in all the local body elections – gram panchayat, mandal parishad and zilla parishad and even municipal elections, the village volunteers campaigned for the YSRC openly and had even acted as the polling agents of the ruling party.
They also played a big role in the YSRC victory in the by-elections to Tirupati parliamentary constituency and to Badvel and Atmakur assembly seats.
The village volunteers were involved in every activity – including inclusion and deletion of voters in the electoral list, publication of electoral rolls, selection of polling stations, distribution of slips for the ruling YSRC on the day of polling, arrangements in polling stations and even shifting of EVMs to safer places.
The CEO directed that the returning and assistant returning officers should not take the help of the volunteers in any of these election-related activities and entrust them with any duties.
Apparently, the EC took cognizance of the complaints received from the opposition parties and individuals stating that the village volunteers were acting as per the directions of the ruling YSRC and playing a big role in the winning of the YSRC candidates in the local body elections and by-elections.
The EC also received video clippings and newspaper reports about top YSRC leaders openly claiming that the government had given jobs to YSRC party workers as village and ward volunteers. The EC acted on these reports and issued the orders accordingly.