Naidu demands repoll in 175 booths after voting machine glitch
At 12pm on Thursday, people were still standing in a long queue at Kottappilly Government School, 5km away from Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh. Many of them, including women were present there since early morning.
Khaleej Times witnessed how a faulty electronic voting machine (EVM) can force people to stand under the hot sun for hours as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu demanded repolling at 175 booths in the state, alleging that the central government was behind the fault. The faulty machines were witnessed in the constituency of the chief minister himself. In a statement, Naidu alleged the central election commission was a failure in conducting the election without faults.
All the 25 seats in Andhra Pradesh were part of the 91 constituencies that went into polls on Thursday. According to initial statistics around 65 per cent of the 36.9 million voters cast their votes to elect their representatives to the 175 assembly and parliament seats.
At Kuppam, from where the chief minister is seeking re-election for the 7th consecutive term, unlike many other parts of the state, the election went peaceful. However, there were tensions in many booths, where Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supporters had an upper hand.
“We told him there is no need to come to the constituency for campaign. He has to look after the entire state and ensure that TDP candidates win from everywhere. It’s our responsibility to make sure that he wins with a record margin. But the voting machine glitch is causing trouble to the voters here,” said Nagarajan, a TDP worker at Kottappilly Government School booth.
He said when the voting started for 629 voters at the booth, there were already 50 votes recorded in the machine. “We complained to the district collector and the machine was replaced. However, the second machine also is not working. So the voters, including women are standing in the scorching heat,” he said. The officials were “still working on it” at 2pm hoping that “it will be okay soon”.
According to Sardar Badshah, a minority group leader with the TDP, whatever games the opposition played, Naidu “will be reelected from Kuppam with close to 100,000 votes and the party would win 105-110 seats”. “For the parliament, TDP will have minimum 18 representatives,” he added.
“During the last election, minority voters were reluctant to support the TDP because it was aligned with the BJP. But now, the situation is different,” said Badshah.
However, supporters of the main opposition party, YSRCP, didn’t agree to this. “The chief minister will not have an easy win now. Our candidate Chandra Mouli has an equal chance to win. We will win at least 120 seats and our leader Jagan will be the chief minister. People need a change and Jagan will provide it,” said Ravi, a party worker at Gullupatti. Jagan launched his election campaign from Kuppam this year, instead of his own constituency.
Munawar Khan, a college student who volunteered to help the voters find their serial numbers, along with a group of other youths, had a different take on the situation. “Our calculation is that there will be hung assembly and the opposing parties will have to come together to rule. We think there will be a Karnataka-like situation after the poll results.”
All the voters Khaleej Times talked to in Andhra Pradesh had the similar opinion. “It will be the end of Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party in Andhra Pradesh unless TDP or YSRCP offers support to them.”
“The actor-turned politician Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena will have more seats than both the leading national parties in Andhra,” predicted Khan.
When asked whom did he vote for, a dejected Khan revealed: “This time it was the chief minister. But I hope next time we will have better candidates to vote for.”
This time, the election is not a free and smooth ride for both the parties, unlike in Tamil Nadu, where the opposition DMK expects an easy win.
During the last election, minority voters were reluctant to support the TDP because it was aligned with the BJP. But now, the situation is different
Sardar Badshah, a minority group leader