AP elections: High turnout means it will be a landslide for YSRC, says Jaganmohan Reddy

VIJAYAWADA/HYDERABAD: YSRC chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy held Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu responsible for the violence during the elections in the state. Jagan said that the high turnout could mean only one thing: “YSRCP will get a landslide. I won’t say how many seats we will win, but the YSRCP will form the next government.”

Setting the tone for opposition leaders for the remaining phases of the general election, Naidu said that the malfunctioning EVMs only strengthened his doubts that the devices could be tampered with.

The commission, however, said only 381 EVMs out of 96,000 across the state malfunctioned and the problem was rectified at all places. AP chief electoral officer (CEO) Gopal Krishna Dwivedi denied reports of large-scale malfunction of EVMs.

Naidu, meanwhile, shot off four letters to the commission and director general of police (DGP) over malfunctioning EVMs and violent incidents at various places in the state. In the letter to Dwivedi, he alleged that nearly 30% EVMs malfunctioned and three hours were wasted at many booths.

After casting his vote at Undavalli near Vijayawada, he told reporters that it was time to return to the ballot paper. “In some cases, voters were pressing cycle (TDP’s symbol) button, but the vote was going to fan (YSRCP symbol),” he alleged.

In his complaint to the commission Naidu alleged that EVMs did not work till 9.30 am, leaving voters standing in queue for more than two hours at many places. He reiterated his demand for introduction of paper ballots to ensure there was no “tampering” of the votes polled.

Women even protested in Vijayawada after EVMs at polling stations in Moghalrajpuram did not work for a long time. They shouted slogans against the commission. Some voters also complained that they were not able to vote as booth managers did not allow them to take mobile phones into the booth and there was no facility to leave them outside.