AP Assembly Elections – YSRCP Complain To EC Regarding Data Theft

The Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP,) filed a complaint to the Election Commission (EC) against IT Grid Private Limited, regarding a data theft scam.

Gopireddy Srinivas Reddy, Kasu Mahesh Reddy and Lavu Krishna Devarayulu, the senior leaders of the YSRCP, on the 5th of March, lodged a complaint to Gopala Krishna Dwivedi, the Chief Election Officer, regarding the data theft scam.

The IT Grid Private Limited, the company which developed the Seva Mitra app, allegedly misused voters’ data for the upcoming Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections.

On the 2nd of March, a case was also registered at the Madhapur Police Station regarding the same against the IT company and the investigation is still going on.

IT Grid provided their Information technology (IT) services to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and designed the Party’s official Seva Mitra app.

However, the TDP denied all the allegations and said, these are the tricks of the opposition Party, the YSRCP, to distract the people of Andhra Pradesh and win the elections.

The YSRCP leaders demanded an answer from the EC and the Government as to how private information about approximately 3 crore of people was breached by a private firm through the Seva Mitra app. In addition, the Party leaders asked for proper clarification regarding whether the Government of Andhra Pradesh provided the information or the firm stole the data.

Kolusu Parthasarathy, a senior leader of the YSRCP, also demanded the EC to probe the case. The case was based on the complaint of the YSRCP regarding the data theft and the deletion of approximately 60 lakh voters from the voters’ list.

The data theft case in Andhra Pradesh is a serious issue, which violates the Model Code of Conduct (MCC.)

The MCC is a set of guidelines provided by the EC during the elections. Once the MCC is implemented, the parties need to conduct their campaigns without violating any of the guidelines included in the MCC. The MCC will come into effect as soon as the EC declares the dates of the elections and will last till the results of the elections are declared.

Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections are scheduled between April and May 2019 and the State will contest a total of 175 Assembly seats. The major parties contesting are the YSRCP, the TDP and the JanaSena Party.

Stay tuned for further updates regarding the Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections.