Date:18/03/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/03/18/stories/2007031802470600.htm

Andhra Pradesh

A.P. Minister flouts EC norm, displays ballot

Staff Reporter

There is no secret in it, says Minister Rajyalakshmi

NELLORE: In what seems to be a major violation of the Election Commission (EC) norms, School Education Minister N. Rajyalakshmi adopted the open ballot system in the elections to the Local Authorities Constituencies (LAC).

Despite the Chief Electoral Officer V. Bhaskar's warning — that if anyone resorts to open ballot method, his or her vote will become invalid besides attracting legal action stipulated by the EC — the Minister showed the marked ballot paper to officials as well as agents present at the polling booth set up at Venkatagiri municipality on Saturday.

What surprised many at the polling both was the Minister's reluctance to obey the Presiding Officer's directive to maintain secrecy while casting vote. "What is secret? There is nothing secretive about this," she said while showing the marked ballot paper.

TDP's protest

Telugu Desam Party leaders led by its district president Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy staged a dharna in front of the Collectorate and submitted a memorandum to District Collector M. Ravi Chandra demanding action against Ms. Rajyalakshmi and 22 elected representatives, who also adopted the open ballot system. The TDP leader alleged that many literate ZPTC, MPTC and corporators belonging to the Congress had taken the assistance of helpers claiming that they were uneducated.

It may be recalled that Endowments Minister J. C. Diwakar Reddy, whom the party high command sent to broker truce between warring factions in the district Congress ahead of the Council elections, reportedly directed elected members of the Congress to adopt the open ballot system to check crossvoting. It had eventually snowballed into a controversy, as elections should be held in the secret ballot system.