The recent elections to 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana raised a big question mark on the manner in which the polling was conducted by the Election Commission authorities.
Though the opposition parties raised a hue and cry over the irregularities in the conduct of elections and the way the poll percentage was allegedly being fudged, the EC has been claiming that the polling was peaceful and conducted in a free and fair manner.
And now, it is going to the extent of threatening those who question the polling percentage which amounted to “subverting the democracy.”
But the opposition parties continue to raise questions over the authenticity of polling.
The other day, the Telangana Congress party pointed out several discrepancies based only on the data released by the EC authorities.
According to Congress spokesman Syed Nizamuddin, the polling figures were changed twice in less than 24 hours. In Hyderabad Parliamentary Constituency, the polling percentage increased by 5.26%. Till 5 pm, it was 39.49%, but the final figure was 44.75%.
He said the increase in final voter turnout was huge in other constituencies.
"It was 25,908 in Bahadurpura; 21,096 in Yakutpura; 19,975 in Chandrayangutta; 14,120 in Karwan; 12,428 in Malakpet and 9,715 in Goshamahal. How is it possible that as many 1.03 lakh voters were standing in queues at 5 pm while the overall turnout was 7,73,036 from 7 am till 5 pm?" he asked, alleging that the figures clearly show that polling process has been manipulated.
He further pointed out that the number of votes polled in Charminar constituency of Hyderabad LS seat till 5 pm, as per the document signed by the Returning Officer, was 95,063. But the same Returning Officer furnished another list mentioning the number of votes as 94,863.
“How can the number of votes will be reduced by 200 after the polling hours? It has to go up going by the people standing in queues after 5 pm?” he asked.
He said increase in polling percentage can be believed as the people were still standing in queues.
“But how could voting percentage come down? In Chevella, it was 53.8% till 5 pm and the final figure was 53.22%. Therefore, the polling percentage in Chevella got reduced by 0.58%. How was this possible?" he asked.
Furnishing the break-up between of polling figures 'Upto 5 pm' and 'Final Turnout' of all 17 constituencies, the Congress leader pointed out that Nizamabad registered an increased by 14.13% followed by Mahabubabd (8.89%); Nalgonda (8%); Khammam (7.32%); Secunderabad (7.06%); Malkajgiri (6.65%); Peddapalli (6.14%); Bhongir (6.14%); Hyderabad (5.26%); Nagarkurnool (5.17%); Adilabad (4.64%); Warangal (3.79%); Medak (3.12%); Zaheerabad (1.87%); Karimnagar (1.45%) and Mahabubnagar (0.4%). He said the overall increase in State Turnout was 2.12%.
