TDP chief demands probe in faulty EVMs

TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday demanded a probe into the faulty EVMs during the Seemandhra polls.

In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, Naidu said that he had already expressed concern over over the safety and reliability of EVMs and their operation in his earlier letter on May 5. Citing examples, he said that in Viziangaram polling booth No 55 and 57 the balloting unit had to be replaced for unknown reasons. All votes were going to INC in booth No 57. Therefore, the machine was replaced. Similarly in Polavaram constituency in booth No 167, the Control Unit was replaced. In Pallerlamudi under Nuziveedu constituency more votes were going to the YSRCP.

“It seems our concerns were quite justified regarding continued use of these EVMs without appropriate testing and validation. We are also concerned that details of these incidents are not being informed to our polling agents. We strongly urge the Election Commission to instruct the Returning Officers to give the reasons for replacing the EVMs”. He also requested the EC to direct the ROs to seize all the defective machines for investigation.