Amaravati, February 22 Senior YSRCP leader S Sailajanath has demanded that the Election Commission order a comprehensive investigation into the 2024 Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections, alleging a suspicious surge in voting percentage during the final hours of voting.
However, TDP leader N Vijay rejected the allegations, stating that a similar pattern of increased voting percentage was also observed during the 2019 Assembly elections.
In a party press release late on Saturday, the former MLA claimed that the sharp rise in turnout figures late at night has raised serious doubts and warrants immediate clarification from authorities.
On May 13, voting was initially estimated at 68 percent, but between 11:45 pm and 2:00 am, nearly 50 lakh additional votes were recorded, bringing the final percentage to 81.85, he said, adding that the election panel must explain the discrepancy.
The opposition leader further alleged that according to the norms, only voters present in the queue by 5 pm were allowed to cast their votes, yet while "tokens were issued to 30,000 voters, nearly 50,000 votes were ultimately polled".
According to the YSRCP leader, such inconsistencies need to be thoroughly verified to ensure transparency and uphold the sanctity of the electoral process.
Noting that the polls were conducted by the EC through its officials in the state, the TDP leader wondered how his party could be accused of any wrongdoing when it was not in power.
"The same trend was seen in 2019, with voting percentage gradually rising from morning till evening. If there is any grievance, they (YSRCP) should approach the ECI. What is the point of blaming us (TDP) when we were not even in power?" Vijay told
