Ban volunteers from distributing benefits: CFD

Vijayawada : Citizens for Democracy (CFD) welcomed the instructions of Chief Secretary K S Jawahar Reddy to keep off about three lakh volunteers of Grama/Ward secretariats from elections duties.

Dr Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar, secretary of CFD, said in a statement here on Friday that the writ petition filed by the CFD in the Andhra Pradesh High Court made it possible. He also demanded the State government that the volunteers should not be used to distribute welfare schemes to the beneficiaries till the election process was completed.

He said that as per the information gathered by the CFD, the volunteers have been influencing the voters because of their proximity to the beneficiaries.

Moreover, as per Section-171 of Indian Penal Code, giving incentives, cash, saris and others to influence voters is a crime.

The State government should think of alternative arrangements to transfer the direct benefits instead of volunteers. The orders of the Chief Secretary become farce if the volunteers continue to distribute benefits like pension and ration to the beneficiaries.

He said that it is the responsibility of the Chief Electoral Officer to avoid direct or indirect influence of the volunteers on the voters. The State government should implement the observation of the Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court mentioned in the orders in the writ petition.

The Chief Electoral Officer could use the inherent powers to conduct free and fair elections in the State, he said. He demanded stern action against the volunteers who participate in favour of politicians of a particular party for their benefit.