YSR Congress party general secretary and Rajya Sabha member V Vijay Sai Reddy demanded that the Election Commission of India deploy central reserve police forces for the protection of electronic voting machines in the strong rooms.
In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Saturday, Sai Reddy requestd that central forces should be deployed at the strong rooms where the EVMs are placed.
He expressed no confidence on state police protection, as Naidu was making allegations against the Election Commission stating that the polling was conducted one-sidedly.
He said the YSRC had genuine apprehensions about the deployment of the state police forces for safeguarding the strong rooms since the chief minister himself was doubting the EC and conducting dharnas.
“Therefore, we request the deployment of central forces like CISF, CRPF etc at strong rooms in place of state police force or state armed reserve in the interest of everyone, particularly when the chief minister is asking the CEO not to obey the instructions of the Central Election Commission,” Reddy said.
He also demanded installation of CC cameras round the clock for monitoring of strong rooms keeping in mind the volatile situation prevailing in the state as well as non-cooperative attitude of the state government towards EC.
“Since the waiting period is unusually long, it calls for exceptional measures as suggested. We would be grateful if EC considers our request and initiate appropriate measures to safeguard the EVMs and closely monitor the strong rooms,” he said.
