Hyderabad: Telangana Deputy Collectors’ Association has urged the state chief electoral officer (CEO) to immediately release the pending bills related to various elections conducted in the state. Association state president V Lachi Reddy, along with other association leaders who met the CEO Sudarshan Reddy on Thursday, said that expenditure incurred by Returning Officers (ROs) and Assistant Returning Officers (AROs) during the Telangana assembly elections-2023 and Lok Sabha Elections-2024 exceeded the budgets originally allocated.The association members submitted a representation seeking clearance of pending and additional election-related bills. They also requested the sanction of additional budgetary support for election management expenses.Lachi Reddy explained that the funds allocated under various expenditure heads during the elections were insufficient, forcing officials in several assembly and LS constituencies to incur additional expenses. In many cases, the required funds were arranged through personal borrowings, while reimbursement of the corresponding bills remains pending.He stated that due to the prolonged delay in payments, some lenders have approached courts for recovery of their dues, while others are visiting the offices and residences of former ROs and AROs, exerting pressure on them. Such developments are not only causing hardship to the officers but also affecting their dignity and professional reputation, he said.The association further noted that proposals seeking additional budget sanctions had already been submitted by the concerned authorities but were still pending at different levels. The representation specifically referred to proposals relating to the Nampally assembly constituency and the Malkajgiri Lok Sabha constituency.The association urged the CEO to examine without delay the proposals submitted regarding excess expenditure incurred during election management and to sanction the required additional funds at the earliest.
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