The Election Commission on Sunday wrote back to the Telugu Desam Party pointing out that the name of its technical adviser Hari Prasad, arrested for EVM theft in 2010, was not there in the list of delegates provided by the party when Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his team met with the poll panel on Saturday.
The war of words between N Chandrababu Naidu's party and the Election Commission continued after the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister took protest over faulty voting machines to Delhi yesterday.
The unsavoury comments made by Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu against chief secretary L V Subrahmanyam incurred the wrath of retired IAS officers.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday said the Election Commission (EC) has lost its credibility as 'it functions on the instructions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his office'.
The polling for the Andhra Pradesh assembly elections concluded in the early hours of Friday and a record 79 per cent of 3.96 crore voters exercised their franchise. The fate of the political parties is sealed in the electronic voting machiners.
Following the conclusion of polling for Andhra Pradesh assembly, both the Telugu Desam Party headed by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and YSR Congress party headed by Y S Jaganmohan Reddy are expressing confidence, at least for the public consumption, that they would come to power in the state.
YSR Congress party general secretary and Rajya Sabha member V Vijay Sai Reddy demanded that the Election Commission of India deploy central reserve police forces for the protection of electronic voting machines in the strong rooms.
YSR Congress party on Saturday accused Telugu Desam Party president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu of indulging in throwing tantrums and making baseless allegations and incoherent comments only out of fear of losing power.
Speculation over a post poll scenario brings forth heavy hitters from the regions, sometimes derisively called political weathercocks. So expect their actions and statements to be dissected for hidden meaning.
A little over 79 per cent voters cast their votes in the simultaneous elections to 175-member Andhra Pradesh Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats on Thursday, poll officials said on Friday.
Reports from ground zero in Visakhapatnam are giving an interesting input, though it is too early to make any prediction.
A day after polling in Andhra Pradesh, which was marred by the malfunctioning of some EVMs, Chief Minister and TDP President N. Chandrababu Naidu on Friday blasted the Election Commission for what he called "turning the elections into a big farce".
Till a few years ago, Anantapur had been witnessing factional killings between two groups led by Paritala Ravindra and Maddelacheruvu Suri. After the death of Ravi and arrest of Suri, the factonism had come down completely.
It is for the people to decide to which party they should vote for in the elections. Irrespective of the pulls and pressures, majority of the voters would already make up their mind as to whom they would vote for, even before coming to the polling station.
The high-voltage electioneering in Andhra Pradesh has come to an end and the verdict of the people is now sealed in the electronic voting machines.
