Telangana DY CM Bhatti Vikramarka seeks CEC’s resignation, calls for ballot paper system
Kochi (Keralam), Sept 30 (TNT): Telangana Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Wednesday demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and called for the restoration of the ballot paper system, alleging that the electoral process had come under a cloud of public distrust.
Speaking at the “India Today South Conclave” here , Bhatti said the Election Commission’s primary responsibility was to ensure free, fair and transparent elections and instil confidence in the electoral system.
He alleged that opposition supporters’ names were being removed from electoral rolls under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process and claimed that 40,000 to 50,000 votes were being deleted in each Assembly constituency. He also alleged that Form-7 applications were being used to remove the names of opposition supporters.
Bhatti said the Election Commission needed to address public concerns and demonstrate its impartiality.
He maintained that political parties winning or losing elections was secondary to ensuring that people retained faith in constitutional institutions.
He also demanded that the Union government apologise to the people for what he described as the politicisation of the Election Commission and called for reforms to protect democratic institutions.
Defending the Telangana government’s welfare programmes, Bhatti said they should not be dismissed as freebies but viewed as investments in human capital and economic growth.
He said the government was investing in housing, education, nutrition and healthcare to improve the quality of human resources and contribute to the state’s gross state domestic product (GSDP).
Under the Indiramma Indlu scheme, around 4.5 lakh houses had been taken up in the first phase, with another two lakh sanctioned, he said.
He also cited the increase in the Rajiv Aarogyasri health coverage limit to Rs 10 lakh, free bus travel for women under the Mahalakshmi scheme and free electricity for consumption up to 200 units for around 53 lakh families.
“Our policy is that every rupee spent by the government should have a direct or indirect impact on the state’s GSDP,” he said.
Seeks equitable resource allocation for southern states, Bhatti said the Centre should follow the spirit of federalism while distributing financial resources among states, arguing that southern states made significant contributions to the national economy.
Citing GST-related collections, he claimed Telangana received 43 paise from the Centre for every rupee contributed, while Bihar received up to Rs 2.
He called for resource allocation to take individual states’ contributions to national economic growth into account.
He also alleged that states governed by the BJP received preferential treatment from the Centre.
Highlights Telangana’s investment potential, the Deputy Chief Minister attributed Telangana’s appeal as an investment destination to its skilled workforce, infrastructure, reliable power supply, water availability and law-and-order arrangements.
He cited Hyderabad’s Outer Ring Road, Financial District, international airport and HITEC City as key infrastructure assets, adding that the city had attracted global companies in sectors such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors and electronics.
Bhatti also credited the fee reimbursement scheme introduced by former united Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy with helping build the state’s skilled workforce.
TNT KM
