The Election Commission of India (ECI) has recommended suspension of an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer with five others and ordered for a police inquire. The ECI took the decision for allegedly and unauthorisedly downloading about 34,000 Electors Photo Identification Cards (EPIC) between March and April in 2021 in Tirupati Assembly Constituency, during the time of Tirupati Lok Sabha by-elections.
It is said that EPICs were downloaded from the login of the then Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), who was working as Commissioner of Tirupati Municipal Corporation. Currently the ERO is discharging duties as a Collector of a district. The ECI has also recommended the suspension of the then Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) and outsourcing employees after a complaint was lodged in December 2023 by the BJP against the violations in the electoral rolls pertaining to the Tirupati Lok Sabha by-elections.
The file related to the suspension of the then ERO and others is with K.S. Jawahar Reddy, Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh, who is likely to take appropriate action within a couple of days, according to sources at the State Secretariat, Velagapudi in Guntur. The IAS officer has denied all the allegations.
