MLC elections: Chandrababu Naidu writes to Chief Election Commission alleging MCC violations

Anantapur: After a video of Andhra Pradesh women and child welfare minister Ushasri Charan asking her cadres to bribe voters of the Kalyandurgam constituency in Anantapur district went viral, TDP supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu wrote an open letter to the Chief Election Commission alleging violations of Model of Code of Conduct (MCC).

The MLC elections to fill three graduates, two teachers, and three local body seats was held in Andhra Pradesh from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday. A total of 108 candidates are contesting for the three graduate positions, 20 candidates for the two teacher positions, and 11 candidates for the three local body positions. Earlier, YSRCP unanimously won five local body seats.

In a video circulating on social media, the minister can be seen asking her cadres to map the voters cluster-wise and bribe them. She further says, “If there are 20 voters in a village, give Rs. 20,000. Do scrutiny of panchayat-wise voter list and cross-check whether the money has been received or not.”

The video is being circulated widely since last evening.

TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, who attached the video evidence in his letter to the EC, said, “A video of state minister Usha Sricharan giving instructions to the cadre and officers on the distribution of money has surfaced. The minister herself said that Rs. 1,000 should be distributed per vote.”

He also attached a few more videos related to MCC in some of the districts and asked the officials concerned to take immediate action.

Speaking to NewsMeter, convener of Model Code of Conduct Violation Monitoring Committee Keshav Naidu said, “We are sending an inquiry report to the Election Commission. The MCC team and flying squad have submitted their report. After examining the video clip and submitting a detailed report, we will send the recommendations against the persons involved to EC by the end of Monday.”

The MLC elections are taking place one year before the Assembly elections. YSRCP’s campaign to win all 175 Assembly seats is likely to see a significant boost if it wins all the Legislative Council seats.

The counting will take place on 16 March.