Chandrababu Naidu questions EC on not counting 50% of VVPATs

VIJAYAWADA: TDP president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday said he was not angry with the Election Commission (EC).


“My anger is against (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi. He is using the EC against opposition parties. This is not good for democracy. I will expose him on every platform,” said the CM.

Speaking to media here on Monday, Naidu questioned the EC for not accepting opposition parties’ demand for counting at least 50% of VVPATs in this election. He said his demand was to go back to paper ballot.

“What is preventing the EC from counting the VVPATs, if its claim on EVMs is true,” Naidu asked.

The TDP chief said his party had been raising doubts over the EVMs and the introduction of the VVPATs was because of the fight. He gave a powerpoint presentation on the EVMs and how different countries were using paper ballot. He said he would give this presentation in every state and create awareness among people against EVMs.

“We should become masters of technology, and not its slaves. The EVMs are suspicious. Anyone can change the programme of the EVMs and the results could be changed. They are not tamper-proof,” Naidu said.

Naidu said majority of the countries have not adopted the EVMs or gone back to paper ballot. “Out of 191 countries only 18 are using the EVMs in their elections,” he said. He blamed the EC for its biased approach.

Naidu said the EC had transferred the chief secretary and IPS officers, including intelligence chief in Andhra Pradesh. He questioned the EC as to why the same was not applied to the Central government. “The EC did not touch any of the officers in the Central government who have been working in favour of the ruling party. Why were the IT, ED, CBI and intelligence officers of the Central government not transferred,” Naidu asked.

He alleged that Modi was carrying currency notes in his helicopter for distribution in the elections. “Why there is no check? Why is the PM allowed to travel without verification,” he asked.

Naidu was upset with the EC not holding talks with EVM expert Vemuru Harikrishna Prasad. He said Vemuru has been a whistleblower on EVMs since 2009 and had demonstrated how the EVMs could be managed or tampered with. He said TDP would ask the EC to allow its technical advisor Vemuru Harikrishna Prasad to represent the party.

Naidu took strong exception to the claims of state chief electoral officer Gopalakrishna Dwivedi on the successful conduct of the elections. “Who is Dwivedi? What is his expertise in technology? He worked with me till he was made the CEO. How can he say that the elections were held successfully,” asked Naidu.