Vijayawada, Apr 11 : Chaos prevailed in Andhra Pradesh over the non-functioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) in various polling stations across the state during the voting to 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha Constituencies on Thursday while a party candidate staged a dharna and protested over the delay in polling.
Party Candidates expressed their anger over the way the polling was being conducted. Information received from various districts said that polling delayed for few hours due to non-functioning EVMs.
In the Mangalagiri constituency, where Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s Minister Son N Lokesh is contesting, the YSRCP candidate and sitting MLA A Rama Krishna Reddy staged a dharna in protest against the technical snags in EVMs. He squatted at a polling station in protest against the ‘indifferent’ attitude of polling officials.
Talking to media, Reddy said that he suspects a sabotage on non-functioning of EVMs in his constituency. He said that after he staged a sit-in dharna, he was told that EVMs started working. Many EVMs in various polling stations were not working causing delay the beginning pof olling, he said.
Mr.Reddy said that an official told him that there is only one technician to look after over 600 EVMs.
TDP MLC Budda Venkanna staged a dharna at a polling station in Mallikharjuna pet here protesting the technical snags in EVMs. He said that he suspects sabotage in the technical snags in EVMs.
The TDP leaders alleged that hundreds of EVMs were not working leading to inordinate delay for the polling to commence. A TDP delegation led by Varla Ramaiah met CEO Gopal Krishna Dwivedi and demanded re-polling in 157 polling stations, where the polling began delayed by few hours due to technical problem in EVMs.
The TDP leaders alleged that 30 per cent of EVMs in the state break down. Jansena President K Pawan Kalyan told media that he had got information that over 200 EVMs are not working.
Meanwhile, hundreds of voters, who waited in long queues, unmindful of scorching heat, returned without casting vote due to delay in beginning of polling due to EVM glitches.
The voters at Gollapudi, Mylavarm, Ibrahimpatnam, G Konduru and Velagaluru expressed anger over the officials for not arranging tents and at least shade for standing in queues. It is impossible for the women and elderly people to stand in queues for more than half-an-hour in the unbearable scorching heat, YSRCP leaders told media.
Mr Dwivedi in a release here on Thursday said that out of total 45,920 EVMs, technical snags developed in only 372 EVMs. The technical snags were rectified and all the EVMs functioning well and polling is going on smoothly, he added.
