Jubilee Hills bypoll: Cong leader booked for distribution of voter ID cards

Congress leader Naveen Yadav, a ticket aspirant for the upcoming Jubilee Hills bypoll, has been booked for allegedly distributing Voter ID cards at a programme in the constituency following a complaint to the chief electoral officer in Telangana by BJP MP M Raghunandan Rao.

Coming as it does at a time when the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) is in force after the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced 11 November as the date for the bypoll, the incident has given a much-needed ammunition, particularly to the BJP, against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who has been accusing the saffron party of indulging in ‘vote chori‘ to win elections.

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After videos and photographs of the Congress leader distributing voter identity cards among the constituents in Madhuranagar surfaced on social media, BJP MP M Raghunandan Rao approached the ECI with a complaint against him. Pointing out that only booth-level officers are authorised to issue voter identity cards to the electorate, he called it a gross violation of the set electoral rules.

In his complaint to the ECI, He wrote, “It has come to my notice that a programme was recently organised in Jubilee Hills during which Voter ID cards were distributed by Sri V Naveen Yadav, a Congress party leader, under the banners and posters of the Congress party. Shockingly, it was also learnt that local police officials facilitated and extended support to this unauthorised event… The involvement of a political party or its members in the distribution of voter identity cards constitutes a gross violation of electoral laws, a clear misuse of official machinery and an attempt to unduly influence voters.”

Yadav apparently collected OTPs from the voters before getting the EPIC cards printed at the government-run Mee Seva Centres and distributed them among them. A criminal case has been registered against him under the Representation of the People Act (RPA) after the matter came to the notice of the election authorities.

Condemning the Congress leader for indulging in such malpractice, BRS working president KT Rama Rao asked, “Who is he to distribute voter cards? Has the ECI given a franchise to the Congress party in Telangana? How is this happening? Isn’t this a bigger crime than ‘vote chori’, Mr Rahul Gandhi.”

Jubilee Hills bypoll is a high-stake election for both the Congress and the BRS. The seat fell vacant after the death of BRS MLA Maganti Gopinath. His wife Sunitha Maganti has been nominated by the BRS for the seat while the Congress and the BJP are yet to declare their candidates. Naveen Yadav has been a frontrunner for the Congress ticket, but this incident might prove a setback to his aspiration.