After ten days of EVM breaking by Macherla MLA Pinnella Ramakrishna Reddy in Palwai Gate polling station of Macherla constituency, Election Commission of India (ECI) has suspended staff members, including Polling Officer.
In view of the incident that took place at the 202nd polling station of Macherla, the ECI has suspended all the polling staff. During the incident, when MLA Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy entered the booth, the PO and other staff members stood up and saluted him. There was no opposition at the time of breaking the EVM, except an attempt by a TDP agent to stop them.
The ECI suspended them on these charges and they were ordered to give their explanation by Friday. ECI is angry against the Polling Officer for not providing necessary information about the incident.
AP CEO Mukesh Kumar Meena has reacted for the first time to the developments of MLA Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy vandalizing the EVM at the Palwai Gate Polling Station. However, he denied allegations of the ruling party leaders that ECI leaked the video containing Pinnelli vandalizing the EVM.
He clarified that ECI has not released the video and they will find out how it came out. He said that action will be taken against all the polling staff there. Already orders were issued for the suspension of PO and APO, who were on duty for not providing correct information.
Meanwhile, Meena has issued orders to the District Election Officers to make strict arrangements for the counting of votes on June 4. Instructions were given to make advance arrangements to declare the results quickly and accurately. He conducted a review on the counting arrangements through video conference with election officials of various districts.
On this occasion, he disclosed that he himself will undertake trips to inspect the strong rooms from the 25th. On June 4, CEO Mukesh Kumar Meena issued instructions to the officials to make strong arrangements at the counting centers. Instructions were given to avoid any disputes in the counting of votes. It has been clarified that the details related to counting should be communicated to the candidates and agents first.