VIJAYAWADA: Intensifying his fight against the Election Commission, Chief Minister and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu is contemplating to stage a protest outside the Election Commission of India (ECI) office in New Delhi on Tuesday demanding 50 per cent voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) verification in the elections.
Earlier, 22 non-BJP parties had submitted a representation to the EC demanding the same. Leaders of all these parties will call on the Chief Election Commissioner and they are also planning to stage a demonstration in case of not getting a positive response from the poll panel. Naidu, who left for New Delhi after his meeting with his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on Monday, informed that a final decision on whether to stage a dharna or not will be taken after eliciting the opinion of all the non-BJP parties.
Considered tech-savvy, Naidu also reiterated his demand of counting entire VVPAT slips in a constituency if there is a mismatch in the votes counted on EVMs with VVPAT slips and asserted that the fight will be continued until justice is delivered.
Refuting the exit polls — majority of them have predicted victory for the Opposition YSR Congress in the State — the Chief Minister exuded confidence that the party will return to power in the State.
Speaking to mediapersons in the Grievance Hall in Undavalli on Monday, Naidu, who has been vociferously demanding verification of 50 per cent VVPATs, also came up with a new demand. “The voters should be allowed to collect the VVPAT slips and drop in the boxes after verifying the genuineness of their votes. Now, the voters are being allowed to have a glance of the slip and it automatically drops in the box even before the voters getting a clarity,” Naidu said.
“There is no need to change the system. But, allowing the voters to collect the VVPAT slips and drop them in the boxes will bring transparency and accountability in the elections. All political parties and the Election Commission should approve the idea to improve credibility,’’ Naidu proposed.
Alleging that the Election Commission has lost its credibility by committing a series of mistakes during the polls, he said the dissent note by one panel member was also not considered by the others in the commission. He also found fault with deployment of more Central forces in the State for counting. “The EC has not sent the forces when required and now it is sending them when there is no need. As the payments of the staff will have to be paid by the State government, it will become a financial burden to the State exchequer,” he claimed.
“Political parties are now thinking how to protect EVMs. They think if they sit there (near the strongrooms), nobody will take away the EVMs. They may not take away the EVMs but what if they change (data) through frequency? Chances of taking away EVMs are less but chances of changing the data through frequency are more as it also works on a chip like mobile phone,” Naidu claimed and added that there are also concerns over possible hacking of the printers.
The TDP supremo, while referring to the exit polls, mentioned that in 2014 elections too, almost all surveys predicted victory for the YSRC, but the TDP formed government in the State
.“Going by the exit polls then, the YSRC leaders had even prepared a list of ministers and portfolios, but all of them shattered after the declaration of the results. This time too, the TDP will emerge victorious and form government,” he predicted.
“Surveys have become a hobby now. Everyone has their own surveys. The TDP has been doing it for the last 35 years. We have even conducted surveys to know the feedback of public on welfare programmes,’’ he said.