By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: The Chief Electoral Officer of Telangana Rajat Kumar on Saturday regretted that money and mafia are influencing elections these days. This is so because voters are not playing their role. He said the gravity of situation was such that even with a week to go before the polling, cash seized till now had gone up to Rs 104 crore which was Rs 28 crore higher than the overall amount seized during the full period in last elections which, in fact, covered entire of united Andhra Pradesh.

Rajat Kumar lamented that a sizeable chunk of the educated and urban voters were not going to the booths, thereby letting democracy down. Highly educated people, professionals and most forward thinking groups were the ones who voted the least while in rural areas, the voting was reaching 80 to 90 per cent. The CEO appealed to the voters to participate in the democratic process by exercising their franchise.

“If anyone offers cash, refuse it outright. From our side, we are working hard to control the role of money and mafia”.“While voting, please go by policies and promises of parties and candidates instead of merely personalities and parochial and narrow lines”. He urged those having no voting right, to make at least five voters to vote. Swelling in voters’ turnout would force the politicians to think about what people want, Rajat Kumar said.

Addressing Voters’ Awareness Programme at Exhibition Grounds on Saturday, organised by the Economic Committee of the Exhibition Society and the Osmania Graduates’ Association, Rajat Kumar said, “Every elected head, from sarpanch to the Prime Minister, is concerned about the needs of the people as, otherwise, they would be rejected next time.

If you do not raise your voice by voting, no politician would be able help you. The politicians are bound by whatever you say by your vote.”

“One could also opt for None Of The Above (NOTA) and if the number of NOTA votes increases, the winning candidates should feel ashamed. If India was known outside, it was for its democracy.

‘Give equal advt space to all political parties’

Hyderabad: With CEO issuing instructions to the District Election Officers for ensuring that all political parties and candidates get equitable opportunity to have access to advertisement space on billboards, hoardings, Hyderabad District Election Officer M Dana Kishore has issued instructions to the Hyderabad Metro Rail and to all private agencies in city for equitable opportunity to all the political parties to have access to advertisement space.

‘Obtain clearance from MCMC before advertising’

Hyderabad: CEO Rajat Kumar has warned that equipment will be seized directly if any advertisement is displayed on electronic media in favour of a candidate, party without clearance from Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC). He asked political parties to strictly adhere to the EC guideline that a pre-certification should be obtained from the MCMC before releasing any advertisement.

CEO to pull up TRS mouthpiece for anti-Naidu remarks

TDP leaders on Saturday met CEO Rajat Kumar and submitted a representation to him demanding stringent action against a Telugu news channel owned by TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao and his family for insulting Andhra Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu by terming him ‘Telangana Drohi’. TDP Telangana legal cell president Gandham Gurumurthy and secretary, Ajmeera Raja Nayak informed CEO that the news channel had telecast an hour-long programme for two days attacking Naidu & used abusive language against him.

TDP leaders argued that he was being portrayed as anti-Telangana despite having played a key role in the development of Hyderabad and Cyberabad. Gurumurthy said CEO had said he would seek a reply from channel and initiate action against channel heads if they were found guilty. The TDP will file a case against the TRS mouthpiece.