Former Minister Merugu Nagarjuna strongly criticized Chandrababu Naidu for his inconsistent and opportunistic stance on EVMs, highlighting his repeated U-turns on the issue.
Speaking to the media at the party central office here on Friday, the former minister called it shameful that Chief Minister Naidu speaks about democracy while constantly shifting his position based on political convenience.
Starting with the 2014 elections, concerns about the reliability of EVMs have been consistently raised by political parties, intellectuals, and the general public, Nagarjuna pointed out. He lamented that despite these ongoing concerns, the responsible institutions have failed to offer clear or satisfactory explanations. This failure, he said, is deeply unfortunate. Nagarjuna emphasized that the YSRCP is taking active steps to restore trust in democratic institutions by addressing these doubts and fostering confidence in the system
Referring to the recent Haryana election results, Nagarjuna said that the outcomes have shocked the nation and mentioned Congress’ allegations regarding the results. He stated that similar doubts exist in both Haryana and Andhra Pradesh, which is why YS Jagan Mohan Reddy made his recent tweet about the need for transparency in the electoral process.
Nagarjuna emphasized that democracy would be better served by returning to ballot paper elections. He referred to a study conducted by the NDR organization, which found discrepancies in 530 of 543 parliamentary constituencies in the recent general elections. The study revealed significant differences between the votes cast and those recorded by VVPATs, with large margins of error in many constituencies.
He also highlighted that according to the same study, in Andhra Pradesh, the data showed that 14 seats should have gone to the TDP-led alliance and 11 to YSRCP, contrary to the official results. Nagarjuna criticized the Election Commission for not responding to these findings, raising further doubts about the integrity of the electoral process.
Nagarjuna stressed that these irregularities undermine public trust in democracy and that the silence of the Election Commission is unacceptable. He reiterated that such practices are harmful to the democratic system.
