Naidu to approach SC for enhanced VVPAT count

Demanding enhanced paper trail count, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu said he will be filing a review petition in the Supreme Court. The Apex court has ordered the Election Commission to increase the number of EVMs whose vote count must be matched with VVPAT slips in each assembly segment, by five times.

Naidu said in a press conference in Amaravati on Friday that he will leave for Delhi along with party MPs and ministers to meet national leaders and the EC and demand for ballot-based elections. "For instance even I am not sure whether my vote went for my party or not in Thursday’s election. The EC has made the whole EVM process a farce. EC says counting slips will take days, even counting ballot papers never took more than a day," Naidu said.

Naidu said he will protest in front of the Election Commission in Delhi against the way elections were conducted in Andhra Pradesh. "For hours the EVMs did not work, the staff were not properly trained to tackle the situation. When the law provides for re-poll in such booths the EC forced the hapless people to stand in lines for 24 hours which is inhuman," Naidu said.

Alleging that the EC was completely subverted by the ruling BJP, he said that the organisation run by people like Seshan is now a puppet in the hands of PM Narendra Modi. "Unmindful of repercussions the EC changed the Chief Secretary and an efficient SP of Kadapa district because YSRCP complained. The result is the violence in Kadapa during poll," Naidu pointed out. He alleged that EC which should have concentrated on training of staff on EVMs and other logistics, instead meddled in politics putting innocent voters into trouble.