TRS rubbishes Cong’s rigging claim in Telangana

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee’s Uttam Kumar Reddy has alleged discrepancies in counting of votes for Assembly polls in the state.

Reddy on Tuesday stated his party has doubts on ballot paper counting and also hinted at tampering in EVM and suggested VVPAT slips should be counted to ensure transparency. “I have doubts on results we’re getting in Telangana ballot paper counting. We doubt tampering could have been done in EVMs. Slips should be counted in VVPATs,” he said.

The Congress leader added leaders of his party will complain to Election Commission over the issue. “All the Congress leaders will complain to returning officers. We will also complain to ECI on this matter. How can TRS leaders say before counting who will lose in elections?” Reddy stated.

Latest figures say the ruling TRS is maintaining a lead of 90 seats, way ahead of the magic mark of 60. Congress and BJP are ahead on 16 and 1 seat, respectively.

TRS MP from Nizamabad, K Kavitha punctured holes in Reddy’s claims and termed his allegation as “totally false”.

The losing party always says the EVMs have been tampered with, this is absolutely false. Even the CEC in a press meeting yesterday said it is not possible to tamper EVMs. People have given victory to TRS, what Congress is claiming is false.

— K KAVITHA , TRS MP from Nizamabad

The major players in the southern state are the TRS, All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM), BJP and a grand alliance called ‘Praja Kutami’, that comprises of Congress, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) and the Communist Party of India (CPI).

A total of 1,821 candidates were in the fray for the 119 Assembly seats in Telangana. The state recorded a voter turnout of over 73%.