Congress party has alleged that polling for Lok Sabha elections held in Telangana on April 11 have been rigged as there was huge variation in the voter turnout figures till 5 p.m. and the final count.
Official spokesperson of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Syed Nizamuddin said here on Tuesday that the difference between the polling percentage till 5 p.m. and the final voter turnout was big and alleged that election authorities might have adjusted the figures to suit the requirement of ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) by tampering with electronic voting machines.
Manipulation could have taken place after 5 p.m. on the day of polling, Mr. Nizamuddin said the polling time for all seats except Nizamabad was till 5 p.m.
Admitting that final polling figures would obviously go up since people already standing in queues at 5 p.m. were allowed to exercise their right to franchise, he alleged that the election authorities had taken advantage of that provision to manipulate the final polling figures.
“We suspect that EVMs have either been replaced in many polling stations or the figures were selectively increased in constituencies where TRS was expected to lose,” Mr. Nizamuddin said addressing a press conference here. Giving the break-up of polling figures up to 5 pm and final turnout of all 17 constituencies, he pointed out that Nizamabad registered an increase by 14.13%.
Similarly, the final percentage of polling had gone up from the one at 5 p.m. by 8.89 in Mahabubabad, 8 in Nalgonda, 7.32 in Khammam, 7.06 in Secunderabad, 6.65 in Malkajgiri, 6.14 each in Peddapalli and Bhongir, 5.26 in Hyderabad, 5.17 in Nagarkurnool, 4.64 in Adilabad, 3.79 in Warangal, 3.12 in Medak, 1.87 in Zaheerabad, 1.45 in Karimnagar and 0.4 in Mahabubnagar, he explained. The overall increase in the polling percentage after 5 p.m. was 2.12.
Further, he said increase in polling percentage could be believed but how could voting percentage come down in one constituency – Chevella, he wondered. In Chevella the voter turn out was put at 53.8% till 5 p.m. but the final figure was lower at 53.22%.