Chandrababu Naidu slams EC for ‘turning elections into a big farce’

New Delhi, April 13

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP President N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday visited the EC office here to complain the malfunctioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during polling in the state on Thursday.

A day after polling for all the 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh, which was marred by the malfunctioning of some EVMs, Naidu on Friday blasted the Election Commission (EC) for what he called "turning the elections into a big farce".

Naidu said Election Commission has lost its credibility as it functions on the instructions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his office.

Raising questions on the poll panel's independence and impartiality, Naidu told reporter outside the EC headquarters here that the level playing field -- an essential attribute of democracy -- "now stands disturbed".

The Chief Minister was speaking after his meeting with Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora.

Naidu said officials in Andhra were being transferred in an arbitrary manner and the Chief Secretary has been replaced by a person, who was accused along with YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy in a case.

Describing the acts of the poll panel as "unfair", Naidu said that the "Election Commission has lost all credibility among the people of the nation" and its image has been dented in their eyes.

He alleged that the poll panel observer in the State was having links with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Recalling that all the opposition parties had demanded for 50 per cent  matching of EVMs with VVPATs, Naidu said that increasing that number from one to five by the Supreme Court was "insufficient".

IANS