TDP hails order on Panchyat polls

Hyderabad, June 20 (UNI) Terming as a 'victory for democracy' a single judge's order quashing the Election Commission (EC) notification for panchayat polls, TDP President N Chandrababu Naidu said his party would move the Supreme Court if the Congress Government got the order vacated by a Division Bench without correcting 'gross irregularities' in the electoral rolls.

''The TDP will legally and politically fight the undemocratic Congress Government, which has removed over 5000 to 6000 TDP voters in every Mandal, colluding with revenue officials, to win the elections by hook or crook,' he told a press conference here.

Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy should have resigned at least 25 times going by the strictures passed by the High Court including in the case relating to failure in adhering to legal procedures while providing five per cent reservation to Muslims, he said.

Alleging that the EC had failed to protect the democratic right of voting enshrined in the constitution, he said his party would implead itself when a Division Bench of the High Court was moved.

Maintaining that his party was not for stopping the poll, he said the TDP would not rest till alleged irregularities in the electoral rolls were removed, so that a free and fair election could be held.

''Let the State Election Commissioner come with me to the villages. I can prove deletion of names of TDP activists with evidence such as ration cards, electricity bills, insurance policies, bank passbooks to prove their identity'', he said.

Without trying to cover up mistakes, electoral rolls should be revised and all parties should be taken into confidence before holding the polls, he demanded.

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