Nearly 30 per cent of the Electronic Voting Machines turned out to be faulty in different parts of Andhra Pradesh, which is going to polls for both 175 state assembly seats and 25 Lok Sabah seats on Thursday.
Reports of malfunctioning of EVMs have been reported from almost all the districts in Andhra Pradesh due to technical snags. Though thousands of enthusiastic voters came to the polling booths well in advance, they could not exercise their vote due to technical snags.
Polling did not commence till 9 am at several places in Anantapur, Guntur, Kadapa and Kurnool due to EVM troubles. According to reports, polling did not start even at 9 pm in the following booths: Jammalamadugu (4), Atmakur (3), Madakasira, Kavali, Nellore city (2), Udayagiri, Uravakonda (7), Guntakal, Proddatur, Singanamala (6), Kalyanadurg (2), Darsi, Tadipatri (2), Yerragondapalem (7), Pamaru (3), Gurajala, Chilakaluripeta, Pedakurapadu (5), Vemuru (2), Parchur (2), Mangalgiri (9), Prathipadu (3), Parchur (3), Vijaywada West, Tadikonda (8), Ponnur (2), Chintalapudi, Eluru (3), Kakinada City, Tuni (5), Rajanagaram, Jaggampeta, Kaikalur, Kovvur (2), Prathipadu (1) and Nuzvid (2).
In Tadipatri, family members of sitting TDP MP J C Diwakar Reddy went back without casting their vote due to faulty EVMs.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Gopala Krishna Dwivedi himself could not cast his vote at Christianpeta Municipal High School in Tadepalli town in Guntur district due to malfunctioning of EVM. He expressed dissatisfaction over the election officials in the polling station for not taking enough precautions.
He told media that the faulty EVMs would be replaced immediately and technical teams would attend to any problems. If necessary, time would be extended to enable the voters to cast their vote wherever polling could not commence on time.