ECI asks Telangana CEO to put government’s paddy e-auction on hold

Hyderabad: Based on a complaint filed by the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) members, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has put the tender auction of 25 metric tonnes of Rabi paddy on hold.

The paddy stock was procured under the Minimum Support Price (MSP) operations by the Telangana State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited (TSCSCL) through the e-tender platform. The e-auction was supposed to be held on October 27 and the total worth of the e-auction is said to be Rs 5,000 crore.

In a letter addressed to the chief electoral officer (CEO) of Telangana, the ECI asked the tender operations to be ‘put on hold till the commission takes a decision in the matter.’ The ECI also requested the state CEO to send a report to the commission on the issue immediately.

Congress alleges auction proceeds are for elections

Recently, vice-president and chairman of the election commission coordination committee of TPCC G Niranjan had written to the chief election commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar on October 18 requesting him to set aside the issuing of tenders by the Telangana State government till the Assembly election process is completed in early December and the next government is formed.

The ECI also enclosed a copy of G Niranjan’s complaint in the letter it sent to the Telangana CEO.

Niranjan had appealed to the ECI to stop the tenders saying, “The present government of Telangana has issued six tenders on October 6 for sale of Rabi paddy procured by TSCSCL under MSP operations for 25 lakh metric tonnes. It also issued a corrigendum related to the tenders on October 17 after the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into force on October 9 for the upcoming elections. The e-auction for the same is on October 27 and the total worth of the e-auction is approximately Rs 5,000 crore.”

He also alleged that the ruling BRS government has planned to raise money through the issuance of these tenders so that they can divert the paddy tender proceeds worth crores of rupees for election purposes.

“Tenders were released in disguise to use crores of government money to get votes in favour of the BRS party for the upcoming elections. Hence, we request you to instruct the authorities concerned to cancel the tenders or hold the tenders till the elections are completed and the next government is formed,” Niranjan wrote in his complaint letter to the CEC.

In his letter, he also attached one of the tender documents along with the screenshot of the e-auction date from the procurement tender. Following the complaint, the tender auction has been postponed by the ECI, while asking the state CEO to file a report on the issue.