Balineni boycotts mock polling, moves High Court

Ongole: The YSR Congress Party candidate for Ongole constituency in the Assembly Elections 2024, Balineni Srinivasa Reddy boycotted the mock polling process in checking and verification of the Electronic Voting Machines on Monday and moved to the High Court of Andhra Pradesh requesting for the recounting and verification of the VVPAT slips, instead.

After the results were announced on June 4, Balineni Srinivasa Reddy expressed suspicion that the EVMs used in the polling in Ongole Assembly constituency were tampered with. Responding to petitions from candidates suspecting tampering with EVMs, the Supreme Court ordered the Election Commission of India to clarify their doubts.

The SC ordered the interested candidates, who are in the second and third positions, to select five per cent of the EVMs used in the polling, and pay the fee for their verification. Balineni Srinivasa Reddy selected EVMs used in 12 polling booths, five per cent of total 256 polling booths, and paid the prescribed fee.

Following the technical standard operating procedure (TSOP) issued by the ECI, district election officer A Thameem Ansariya made arrangements to check and verify the EVMs in the presence of the engineers from Bharat Electricals Limited and scheduled the process for six days. On Monday, the officials invited the representatives of Balineni Srinivasa Reddy for the checking and verification of two EVMs, including the ballot unit, control unit and VVPAT by conducting a mock polling, at the EVM Godown in Bhagyanagar.

The representatives of Balineni objected to the process of mock polling that was given as part of the TSOP by the ECI, and requested for the recounting of the votes and verification of the VVPAT slips. As the officials didn’t approve of their request, Balineni moved to the High Court of AP, requesting intervention.

Balineni said that he wanted the verification of the polled votes, and comparison of the same in the VVPAT slips, but not mock polling. He said that mock polling was done several times in the election process, and conducting it again is of no use to them. He said that it is the responsibility of the ECI to uplift the spirit of democracy by clarifying their doubts, but it is trying to evade it. He said that he is hopeful the HC would address his concern, and is ready to move to SC if required.

District Collector A Thameem Ansariya explained that the representatives of Balineni Srinivasa Reddy objected to the mock polling process as per the TSOP by ECI, and boycotted it. She said that they are submitting a report to the ECI and take further action as per the instructions.