Hyderabad: Telangana high court on Wednesday sought a response from the State Election Commission on a petition challenging the election of Chilkala Bugga Ramulu as a councillor of Ibrahimpatnam municipality on the outskirts of Hyderabad, over allegations that he possessed three voter ID cards. The petitioner, Eegala Ramulu, told the court that despite submitting multiple complaints to the Election Commission, no action had been taken. He urged the court to direct authorities to act against what he described as an illegal nomination secured by creating and using multiple voter IDs in both gram panchayat and municipal elections. He alleged that such actions amounted to cheating both the public and the govt. Justice NV Shravan Kumar, who heard the case, directed the Election Commission to obtain instructions and respond to the allegations. The court also permitted the petitioner to implead additional necessary parties to the case.According to the petitioner, representations on the issue were submitted to several officials, including the election authorities, Ibrahimpatnam municipal commissioner, Rangareddy district collector and the revenue divisional officer-cum-returning officer for Ibrahimpatnam municipality, but none elicited a response. Ramulu further contended that possessing and using multiple voter ID cards in different elections violated provisions of the Representation of the People Act as well as Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution. The court adjourned the matter to March 5 for further hearing.
