Telangana Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar on Tuesday clarified that no personnel of the Andhra Pradesh police would be deployed for the upcoming elections in the state, scheduled for December 7. He also dismissed several allegations surrounding the move and said that it was common practice.
Speaking to reporters in Hyderabad, Rajat Kumar said, “Police personnel from AP are Telugu speaking, and there is a possibility of interaction with locals and they may have relatives too. Similarly, we do not deploy police personnel from Karnataka in Maharashtra and vice versa. We have not asked Chhattisgarh too as it is also going to polls. For the Telangana polls, we have requested forces from neighbouring states like Odisha, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.”
However, the move did not go down well with the Congress, which alleged that it was an 'insult' to the police to suggest that they could be biased towards their region. “If any individual police personnel from Andhra is indulging in illegal things, the EC can file a complaint and seek action, but it is improper to stereotype the entire police force,” Congress spokesperson Sravan Dasoju stated.
Meanwhile, in a related development, Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) RP Thakur responded to allegations of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), which approached the Election Commission earlier this week, with photos of three police personnel and filed a complaint. The TRS alleged that the Andhra Pradesh police was using its intelligence to carryout election surveys and also shield TDP politicians who were ferrying cash.
However, the DGP in his response, denied reports that money was recovered from the personnel and said that they were on official duty related to tracking Maoist activity.
Earlier in the week, Telangana DGP Mahender Reddy also filed his response to a complaint from opposition leaders in the state that their phones were being tapped and selective searches of their vehicles were being carried out by the state machinery.
All the representatives of the 'Mahakutami' or grand alliance had filed a complaint with the CEO, which included Telangana TDP President L Ramana, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) chief Uttam Kumar Reddy, Telangana Jana Samithi President M Kodandaram and Communist Party of India (CPI) State Secretary Chada Venkat Reddy.
Following this, the CEO had sought a report from the Telangana DGP. In his response to the EC, Mahender Reddy denied the allegations.
Telangana is scheduled to go to the polls on December 7 and the counting of votes will take place on December 11.