Electronic voting machines in several places in Andhra Pradesh suffered glitches during the first phase of voting for Lok Sabha and Assembly elections on Thursday, PTI reported. Polling began at 7 am.
There were complaints about technical glitches in EVMs at 50 places, PTI quoted State Chief Electoral Officer Gopal Krishna Dwivedi as saying. He added that technical teams are at the spot to rectify defects in these machines and resume polling.
Several booths in Kuppam Assembly constituency reported EVM glitches, The Hindu reported. This is the constituency of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. In Kadapa, the button with the fan symbol could not be pressed at one booth, and the cycle symbol at another booth. Both EVMs were immediately changed.
Meanwhile, YSR Congress Party workers allegedly ransacked EVMs in a polling station in Jandlavaram village of Mydukur mandal. The police dispersed an agitated mob gathered outside the voting station, and polling officials locked it.
Over 100 EVMs allegedly malfunctioned in Prakasam district as polling began in 3,269 booths. Polling officials replaced the machines. The police also took two polling agents into custody for allegedly trying to bribe voters at Vemavaram village in Ballikuruva mandal of the district.
However, the Election Commission said only 43 out of a total of 92,000 EVMs in the state had to be replaced.
#WATCH Jana Sena MLA candidate Madhusudhan Gupta smashes an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) at a polling booth in Gooty, in Anantapur district. He has been arrested by police. #AndhraPradesh pic.twitter.com/VoAFNdA6Jo
— ANI (@ANI) April 11, 2019
Naidu has written a letter to the Election Commission about malfunctioning EVMs and demanded a re-poll, the Hindustan Times. He told the poll body that 30% of the EVMs were not functioning till 10 am.
“The Election Commission should realise the danger of using the EVMs at least after seeing the technical glitches across the state,” he told reporters, according to The Times of India.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and his family after casting their vote for #LokSabhaElections2019 in Amravati.
Meanwhile, Jana Sena MLA candidate Madhusudhan Gupta smashed an EVM at a polling booth in Gooty, in Anantpur district, ANI reported. He has been arrested.
In Puthalapattu constituency of Andhra Pradesh, a clash broke out between YSR Congress party and Telugu Desam Party workers. Police resorted to baton charging the workers, ANI reported.
There are over 3.93 crore registered voters in the state, of which 10.15 lakh are first time voters. As many as 2,118 candidates are contesting 175 Assembly seats, and 319 nominees for 25 Lok Sabha seats.
The Lok Sabha elections are being held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19, and the results will be declared on May 23.
