Describing the Election Commission as the “most useless institution” in the country and a “branch office of the BJP”, Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday said the Commission had failed to conduct hassle-free elections in the state.

Andhra Pradesh went to polls for the 175-member state Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats on Thursday. The ruling TDP fought an intense battle with main opposition YSR Congress.

“I have never seen such an institution in my four decades of political life. The Commission has been completely subverted by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. The organization run by people like T N Seshan has become a puppet in the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” the chief minister alleged, addressing a press conference at Amaravati.

He said if nobody contests, the EC might even go to the stage of helping one to become a MLA if he offered Rs 5 crore as bribe. He vowed to fight it through all legal platforms.

Naidu said he would be leaving for New Delhi along with his party MPs and ministers on Saturday to file a review petition in the Supreme Court for increasing the number of VVPATs for counting. The apex court recently directed the EC to count five per cent of VVPATs, following a petition filed by Naidu and leaders of 21 other parties.

He said he would also meet all the national leaders to pitch for his demand to conduct the elections using ballot papers. He also announced that he would stage a dharna, if necessary, in front of the EC, in protest against the Commission’s failure to conduct smooth elections.

Stating that the country had lost faith in the EVMs, Naidu pointed out that from the first hour of polling, there had been large scale complaints on malfunctioning of EVMs. “As many as 4,343 EVMs had gone out of order. You sent people in the name of repairing them or replacing faulty EVMs. Who are these repairers? What are their qualifications? Have you appointed them? Do you have powers to appoint? What is the guarantee that those men did not manipulate the EVMs in the name of repair?” the TDP president questioned.

He also charged the EC with exercising its abnormal powers in transferring the state chief secretary, intelligence chief, three superintendents of police and several police officials, without any rational explanation. He questioned how the EC could appoint L V Subrahmahmanyam, an IAS officer who was a co-accused in YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy’s criminal case as chief secretary. “How can Subrahmanyam go to the Director General of Police when the polling was going on?” he asked.

Naidu pointed out that due to the EC’s failure in arranging fool-proof EVMs and inefficient staff, people had to stand in queues for several hours. “In some places, polling did not commence till afternoon. When the law provides for re-poll in such booths where EVMs do not function for several hours, the EC did not bother,” he alleged.

He pointed out that there was unprecedented violence at many places, resulting in the death of two persons. Many contestants were attacked by workers of rival parties, the EC did not make adequate arrangements for protecting law and order. “If people don’t want us, they will vote against us. But who are you to misuse your powers to work for our defeat?” he asked.

Naidu, however, expressed the confidence that his party would come back to power despite all the alleged misdeeds of the EC. “People stood against the atrocities of the EC. They asserted their right to vote. They returned to the polling booths twice, thrice, to thwart the mischief of EC officials,” he claimed.

First Published: Apr 12, 2019 16:59 IST