Suspecting a foul play, the Congress, in Telangana, has sought information on polling details from the Election Commission. It has claimed that there was an unusual increase in the percentage of votes given on polling day and the final figures in the Lok Sabha elections.
Congress leader Marri Shashidhar Reddy, who made a powerpoint presentation on the issue on Monday, met the EC officials in Delhi two days ago and submitted a representation.
“The ‘spike’ in the polling percentages after 5 p.m. in the State Assembly elections in December 2018 and in the Parliament elections in April 2019 in Telangana is totally unprecedented,” he said.
Mr. Reddy said the State Chief Electoral Officer gave the polling percentage on April 11, when polling for the Lok Sabha seats took place in the State, as 60.57% and on the next day as 62.69% — an increase of only 2.12%.
However, the fact was that the percentage on polling day (5 p.m.) was 59.06% and it was 64.32% (next day), an increase of 5.26%, Mr. Reddy claimed.
“He [CEO] says that the increase on average across the State is 2.12%. That is wrong.... So the actual increase is 5.26%. Rajat Kumar [CEO] should explain why he sought to downplay it,” he said.
The total number of votes polled after 5 p.m. in all 17 Parliamentary constituencies was 15,36,784, averaging about 90,399 votes per each Parliamentary constituency, he claimed.
Mr. Reddy further claimed that there has been an increase of 14.13% in Nizamabad, while in Secunderabad there has been increase (polling percentage) of 7.06%, “which means 1,38,951 votes were cast after 5 p.m.”.
On the contrary, “there has been a decrease of 0.58%” in Chevella Parliamentary Constituency,” which means the total number of votes polled in fact decreased by 14,146 as compared to the votes polled at 5 p.m., he said.
The Congress has sought copies of reports of Returning Officers about Assembly segment wise polled votes at 5 p.m. on polling day and the next day (figures) in all the 17 Parliamentary constituencies.
It asked for polling-station-wise votes polled as per the 5 p.m. records in Nizamabad, Secunderabad, Khammam and Chevella constituencies.
The party also sought polling-station-wise time when voting finally ended after 5 p.m. and also station-wise footage inside the polling stations till the end of voting.
Suspecting “illegal voting”, he said “the increase in the percentage of polling after 5 p.m. is apparently being exploited as a loophole for a new type of “rigging” (because there is scope for increase in votes polled). The Congress said it would firm up its future course of action after analysing the information provided by the EC. This may include legal action.
