Telangana: Election Commission conducts enquiry into Dharmapuri EVM strong room incident

A three-member team including Principal Secretary Vikas Raj, Under Secretary Sanjay Kumar and Joint-Secretary Ravi Kiran conducted an enquiry at the JNTU Engineering College, Nachupalli

Jagtial: Election Commission officials conducted an enquiry into the missing keys of the strong rooms of the Dharmapuri assembly constituency, where EVMs from the 2018 elections were kept.

A three-member team including Principal Secretary Vikas Raj, Under Secretary Sanjay Kumar and Joint-Secretary Ravi Kiran conducted an enquiry at the JNTU Engineering College, Nachupalli of Kodimial mandal on Monday.

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District Collector Shaik Yasmeen Basha, former collectors G Ravi and Sharath Kumar, officials who were in charge during the elections including Additional Collector Rajesham, DRDO PD Aruna Sree and election returning officer Bikshapathi appeared before the enquiry team.

The Congress candidate in Dharmapuri, Adluri Laxman Kumar, who was defeated in the 2018 elections, had approached the High Court alleging irregularities in the counting of votes, following which the court recently instructed district election authorities to send election petition documents (17a, 17c) to it. Based on the court’s instructions, district officials led by Collector Yasmeen Basha had tried to open strong rooms in the presence of representatives of political parties. Though they managed to open one strong room, the keys of the other two rooms were reported missing. When the officials tried to break open the rooms, Laxman Kumar objected and informed the court, following which the court instructed Election Commission officials to submit a report by April 26 after a detailed enquiry.