The Election Commission of India (ECI) took action on April 9 by suspending 106 government employees in Telangana for their participation in an “unauthorized” event organized by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Medak MP candidate and former IAS officer P Venkatram Reddy in violation of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) rules amidst the ongoing General Elections to HOP 2024 (Lok Sabha).
According to the orders issued by Manu Choudary, Siddipet District Collector, “After careful examination of the report of Assistant Returning Officer, Siddipet Assembly Segment within Medak Parliamentary Constituency and Revenue Divisional Officer Siddipet and DRDO, DRDA Siddipet, all the mentioned 106 staff members of DRDA Siddipet (MGNREGS & SERP) are hereby placed under suspension with immediate effect.”
Prompted by the input given by Raghunandan Rao, a BJP contestant for the Medak Parliament Constituency and former BJP MLA of the Dubbak Assembly Constituency, the EC teams were immediately dispatched to investigate the matter. Upon inspection at around 10:00 PM on April 7, 2024, the team found a gathering of 10-15 persons at the Reddy Function Hall. CCTV footage collected from the venue corroborated the allegations, revealing that the BRS Party leaders had conducted the meeting without proper authorization.
The report states, “As per the CCTV footage, it was found that BRS Party leaders conducted a meeting on April 7, 2024, in the said function hall unauthorizedly without obtaining any valid permission from the Assistant Returning Officer. Hence, on 08-04-2024, FIR was lodged before Sub Inspector of Police, III- Town against P Venkatram Reddy, BRS Party & Ravinder Reddy Mareddy BRS Party for the conduct of an unauthorised meeting without obtaining any valid permission by violating the Model Code of Conduct Rules issued by Election Commission of India.”
The suspended staff belong to Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS)- both which are wings of the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), who work as Assistant Project Managers, Community Coordinators, Field and Technical Assistants, Computer Operators, Engineering Consultants, and Village Organization Assistants, all of whom have significant contact with villagers on a daily basis.
P Venkatram Reddy, a BRS MP contestant, was known to be close to KCR, Telangana’s former chief minister.
In November 2021, P Venkatram Reddy resigned as Siddipet district collector and thereafter joined the BRS party. In 2024, he is running for the Medak Parliament Constituency on a BRS ticket.
In 2021, he touched KCR’s feet during one of the CM’s official programmes.
