As the state of Andhra Pradesh went to polls on Thursday morning, reports of faulty electronic voting machines (EVM) in parts of the state resulted in delays in the voting process.
Voting in the capital city Amaravati’s Undavalli commenced almost 30 minutes late due to faulty EVMs. In Chittoor district’s Madanapalle, the polling process was delayed as officials found mismatches between the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails (VVPATS) and EVMs. A delay rose as officials looked to rectify the issue.
In the Vijayawada East Constituency’s PB Siddhartha College polling booth, officials stalled the polling process citing that there was a technical issue with the EVM machines.
EVM machine gives trouble in Vijayawada East Constituency at PB Siddhartha college booth number 81 , officials claim that there is technical glitch. pic.twitter.com/RshLcfBNjR
— CharanTeja (@CharanT16) April 11, 2019
Further reports of faulty machines also came to light from Andhra University, parts of Nellore, and Vizag as well.
In Telangana, reports in delay of polling emerged from Khammam district and Hyderabad’s Old City. Nizamabad Lok Sabha candidate K Kavitha too stood in line at a polling booth for around 40 minutes as there was a delay due to a faulty EVM machine.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Gopal Krishna Dwivedi, who voted in Tadepalli, reported that complaints about technical glitches in EVMs were reported in around 50 places, further adding that teams of professionals were ready and available to handle any such complaints.
In Anantapur district, Madhusudhan Gupta, the Jana Sena MLA candidate, damaged an EVM by smashing it on the floor allegedly because the names of candidates were not appearing properly. He has been apprehended and detained by police officials
Follow live updates here: Live blog: Andhra Pradesh goes to poll for Lok Sabha and State Assembly Seats