Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu wrote a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India and the other election commissioners reiterating his demand that every complaint made by the political parties should be examined objectively and professionally and the request of Opposition parties to count at least 50% VVPAT slips for the purpose of validating the EVM count be re-examined.
Mr. Naidu said he was strongly opposing ‘the undemocratic action’ of the Election Commission of India (ECI) in conducting repoll in five polling stations in the Chandragiri Assembly constituency on May 19.
He alleged that there was a conspiracy to remove the votes of TDP supporters and deprive many people of their right to vote in that constituency in addition to many other constituencies across the State. But, the ECI had so far not responded to the request of Special Investigation Team constituted by the State government and shared IP numbers of the computers from which the fake complaints came.
More disturbing was the alleged setting aside (by ECI) of all complaints made by the TDP.
The ECI did not respond to TDP complaints in polling station numbers 166, 172, 173, 192, 193, 194, 310, 311, 323. As far as the incidents in West Bengal were concerned, Mr. Naidu said the ECI preferred to act upon the complaint made by BJP only by ignoring that of the Trinamool.
Its inaction on the complaints made by the Opposition parties against the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah clearly appear to be done at the behest of the BJP-led Central government, he observed.
Party candidate stages protest
Meanwhile, TDP district president and Chandragiri constituency candidate Pulivarthi Nani staged a protest along with district Minister N. Amaranatha Reddy in front of the office of Tirupati Sub-Collector and Returning Officer R. Mahesh Kumar.
In a representation to Mr. Kumar, Mr. Nani said the TDP first demanded repoll in 192, 193 and 194 booths in Thummalagunta (native village of YSRCP candidate Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy) apart from 310 Kalepalli, 311 Nadavaluru, 323 Kuppambadur and two booths in Brahmanapattu (all in Ramachandrapuram mandal). “Our demand was ignored, but the EC has now taken cognisance of YSRCP’s demand. We will not accept this,” Mr. Nani told The Hindu.