In a bid to ensure free and fair Rajya Sabha polls in Jharkhand, JVM Principal General Secretary Pradeep Yadav, in a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India, has demanded removal of ADG (Special Branch) Anurag Gupta and Chief Minister’s then Political Adviser Ajay Kumar, now his Press Adviser, who were allegedly involved in horse-trading during the last Rajya Sabha elections in 2016.
The letter was written in view of upcoming elections scheduled to be held on March 23 for two Rajya Sabha seats in Jharkhand.
Notably, the EC had taken cognizance of the complaint filed by JVM president Babulal Marandi with CDs of purported phone calls of ADG Anurag Gupta and the then Press Advisor of Chief Minister Raghubar Das Ajay Kumar alleging interference in the exercise of electoral rights of some of the electors during Rajya Sabha elections. The Election Commission had, thereafter, asked the State Government to take action against the two.
“The EC had also asked the Chief Secretary to keep it informed about the action taken and progress from time to time, but no action was taken in this regard,” stated the letter. The June 13 letter sent by Election Commission Principal Secretary Birendra Kumar to Jharkhand Chief Secretary, said: “By way of preliminary verification, it appears there is prima facie case to proceed against the accused persons, who are public servants.”
“It is really unfortunate that the ADG still continues on the same post as no action was taken against him so far. As dates for the two Rajya Sabha seats has been now been declared, he must be removed from his post and action must be taken against him to ensure free and fair elections in the State,” stated the letter. If the ADG continues on the post, it will unnecessarily create doubts in people’s minds regarding the fairness of Rajya Sabha polls, it added.
Yadav in his letter also said that other officers of the State Government will also get encouraged, if action was not taken against the concerned officials, besides creating a sense of skepticism towards ECI among the masses. “Only if you take action, public and the nation will have faith in the Election Commission,” stated the letter.
“Situation is so worse here that there is no doubt that the ADG may get involved in similar activities and create a hurdle in conducting free and fair elections in the State,” Yadav added in the letter.
Notably Marandi along with legislators Chamra linda of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Nirmala Devi of the Congress Party had lodged complaints of horse-trading ahead of voting for two Rajya Sabha seats in the state in 2016. These opposition leaders had produced a compact disc with alleged recorded voices of Gupta as well as Kumar.