Delhi: Two days after Andhra Pradesh witnessed its first phase of assembly general elections on April 11, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday met the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora and alleged the commission officials' of being predisposed against TDP and favoured his arch rival YSR Congress Party led by YS Jaganmohan Reddy. He charged the Election Commission (EC) officials of favouring Reddy at the whim of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In a strongly worded letter, the Telugu Desam arty (TDP) leader complained that the poll body “miserably failed to live up to the spirit of to its constitutional responsibility” in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
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Addressing the press after meeting the CEC, a visibly upset Naidu questioned the credibility of the poll body saying,
“The Election Commission is an autonomous body. At the same time, it is working on instructions of PM Modi and the government of India.The Election Commission is not cooperating with us.”
In his letter, the TDP chief has alleged that the poll body favoured the YSR Congress by appointing “an officer, who was co-accused in one of the criminal cases” filed against YSR Congress chief Jaganmohan Reddy. He claimed that the poll body acted unilaterally on the complaints by the YSR Congress and deliberately did not pay attention to the complaints lodged by the TDP.
"A Government Order was passed without taking the EC into confidence which called for the transfer of Chief Secretary Anil Chandra Punera on April 5, and was replaced by LV Subramanyam," said Naidu in his letter adding that latter has several charges against him.
Naidu also cited poll violence leading to the death of a Telugu Desam Party (TDP) worker in in Anantapur's Tadipatri of Andhra Pradesh, after clash broke out between the supporters of the YSR Congress Party and TDP.
Expressing his concern over the reports of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) malfunctioning, he demanded that the Election Commission should revert to the system of recording votes through ballot papers and stop the use of electronic voting machines in polls. He said there are doubts regarding reliability of the EVMs.
“We demand the Election Commission of India for reverting to paper ballot system immediately to preserve the sanctity and protect the spirit of electoral process and democracy respectively,” said Naidu emerging from the poll body’s office.
Malfunctioning of EVMs and clashes, reportedly, led to the delay in about 400 polling stations in different parts of the state.
Andhra Pradesh voted for all 175 assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats on April 11 in the first phase of the parliamentary elections. The polls were marred by the malfunctioning of EVMs at various places in Andhra Pradesh prompting Naidu to lash out at the Election Commission for what he called “turning the elections into a big farce”.
Earlier, Naidu had staged a dharna on Wednesday outside the EC's office in Vijaywada protesting the ,"tyrannical and undemocratic attitude" of the poll body, over the "motivated" transfer of state Chief Secretary, Director-General of Police, three SP's and five police inspectors.
In 2014 elections, TDP had bagged 102 seats while its then ally BJP had won four seats. YSRCP had won 67 seats. Two independents were also elected.
In the simultaneous elections held for Lok Sabha, TDP had bagged 15 seats while BJP got two seats. YSRCP candidates were elected from eight constituencies.
