Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu held a meeting with cabinet ministers and TDP party functionaries on Tuesday to discuss electoral issues, and the possibility of early elections in the state.
In the meeting, state Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu reportedly expressed concern over EVMs allegedly being tampered with by the BJP. ANI quoted him saying, "The party leaders should be careful with EVMs. Party cadre should be on full alert. The central government is taking all systems including Election Commission into its control. There is a possibility of misusing the EVMs. Party should be very keen in this regard."
Reacting to his comments and suspicions about EVMs, Naidu reportedly said that he would take up the issue and make it a debatable national issue.
Speaking to TNM, agriculture minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy said, “Among the many issues, we discussed EVMs too. We also discussed about Muslim voters' names being removed from electoral rolls. Someone had raised a concern that Muslim voters are being deleted from their electoral rolls. This is very worrying.”
During the Karnataka elections, Delhi based NGO, the Centre for Research and Debates in Development Policy, found that nearly 20% voters of the Muslim community were missing from the voters' list.
When asked if they were pitching for ballot papers instead of EVMs in the upcoming General elections, Reddy said that they haven't proposed such an idea yet.
Party spokesperson, Lanka Dinakar, mooted the idea of going back to ballot papers. He said, "it is better to go back for ballots , technology should be a good means but should not used to abuse the democratic procedures. Even in recently held Karnataka elections EVMs found at individuals places."