EC orders action against IAS over electoral malpractice

P S Girisha was the commissioner of Tirupati Municipal Corporation and returning officer for the by-election to the Tirupati Lok Sabha seat, when the alleged irregularities took place during the polling

The Election Commission of India on Wednesday ordered suspension of senior IAS officer P S Girisha, presently collector and district magistrate of Annamayya district of Andhra Pradesh, for the alleged malpractices during the by-election to Tirupati Lok Sabha seat held on April 17, 2021, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

The Election Commission had ordered an inquiry into a BJP’s complaint that more than 35,000 bogus electoral photo identity cards were supplied to the people to impersonate as genuine voters during the Tirupati Lok Sabha bypoll on April 17, 2021. (REUTERS)

Girisha was the commissioner of Tirupati Municipal Corporation and returning officer for the by-election to the Tirupati Lok Sabha seat, when the alleged irregularities took place during the polling.

A senior official in the state secretariat said on condition of anonymity that the ECI had ordered a detailed inquiry into a complaint lodged by the Bharatiya Janata Party stating that more than 35,000 bogus electoral photo identity cards (EPICs) were supplied to the people to impersonate as genuine voters during the polling.

In a letter written to BJP Andhra Pradesh unit president Daggubati Purandeshwari on January 8, chief electoral officer Mukesh Kumar Meena said the ECI had inquired into the complaint that thousands of fake voters were given fake EPIC cards for voting by impersonation during the by-election to Tirupati parliamentary constituency.

“The ECI had verified the data of such digital printouts of the EPIC cards submitted by the BJP, which alleged that the 35,000 such EPIC cards were illegally downloaded and printed with real photo blurred for use by the bogus voters transported from other places,” he said.

The ECI instructed district election officer (DEO), Tirupati, to conduct an enquiry. As per the information given by the DEO, a criminal case has been filed under Sections 417 (cheating by inducement), 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 109 r/w 34 (abetment of crime) of Indian Penal Code, besides various sections of Information Technology Act.

“A First Information Report (FIR) was registered on January 7, 2024 in Tirupati East police station and investigation initiated,” Meena said.

Speaking to reporters in Vijayawada, BJP state general secretary Matta Prasad told reporters that during the enquiry, it was found that the login ID and password of IAS officer Girisha, who was acting as the returning officer for Tirupati LS by-election, were used by somebody else to download the fake EPICs.

“Nearly 35,000 voter ID cards were downloaded from the system using the login and password of the returning officer. The photographs of these EPICs were morphed and used for impersonation during the polling,” the BJP leader said and alleged that similar irregularities had taken place in almost all the districts in Andhra Pradesh.

The secretariat official quoted above said the ECI had instructed the chief electoral officer to identify other officials involved in the downloading of the EPICs using the returning officer’s login ID and password.

While Meena did not responded to calls and text messages, Girisha could not be reached for his comment.