Clashes and complaints of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) malfunctioning marked voting in Andhra Pradesh where all 25 parliamentary and 175 assembly seats went to polls on Thursday.
Two party workers, including a worker of the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and another of the rival YSR Congress Party, were killed in clashes between the two groups, which also left several injured.
According to figures available at 9pm, the voting percentage in the southern state was 73%. The state has 39.6 million registered voters.
As many as 319 candidates for the Lok Sabha and 2,118 candidates for the assembly elections are in the fray. In 2014, the polling percentage in the Andhra region was 76.80%.
At Gooty in Anantapur district, Jana Sena Party candidate, Madhusudhan Gupta, was detained for damaging an EVM by smashing it on the floor to protest alleged malfunctioning. Similar complaints poured in.
At least 30% of the EVMs did not function, and at some places EVMs indicated votes were polled in favour of the YSRCP even when people opted for the ruling party, TDP president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu alleged, demanding re-polling in such constituencies. Chief electoral officer, Gopala Krishna Dwivedi, who himself could not cast his vote in Tadepalli town in Guntur district due to problems with the EVM, pulled up officials.
He, however, said just 382 of over 45,000 EVMs were found to have problems. “They were all replaced by our technical teams soon after the complaints were received,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}He, however, said just 382 of over 45,000 EVMs were found to have problems. “They were all replaced by our technical teams soon after the complaints were received,” he said.
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