It is for the people to decide to which party they should vote for in the elections. Irrespective of the pulls and pressures, majority of the voters would already make up their mind as to whom they would vote for, even before coming to the polling station.
Political parties, of course, indulge in all sorts of activities to get the result in their favour and this will result in clashes, violence and malpractices. But nobody would change the mind of the voters.
But in spite of all these, it is the responsibility of the Election Commission to conduct the elections smoothly and without any hitches. That way, the EC has miserably failed to conduct the elections in Andhra Pradesh in a systematic manner.
Look at the way the polling was held till early hours of Friday, forcing the people to stand in queues till late hours.
The EC has grossly failed to check the quality of the EVMs used in polling. Though voters came to the polling booths much before 7 am, the EVMs did not function properly in hundreds of polling station.
Chief Electoral Officer Gopala Krishna Dwivedi tried to defend that they were minor glitches, but reports from different parts of the state indicated that the EVMs gave trouble in more than 2,500 polling stations.
In some places, the authorities had to replace EVMs four or five times.
What is worse, polling did not start in some villages even till afternoon, forcing the voters to go back to their homes. One does not know whether the authorities indulged in tampering of EVMs during this period.
Yet, the people waited patiently in long queues to exercise their franchise and voted till Friday morning. The total percentage of polling was as high as 76.69 percent, compared to 74.5 percent in 2014.
The EC, which has gained control over the entire police machinery, has also failed to prevent law and order in several sensitive areas.
The battlefield was left for anti-social elements operating on behalf both the major parties—TDP and YSRC and at many places, it was free for all.
That way, the EC’s inefficiency was glaringly evident in Andhra elections.