VVPAT slips missing in Ganta Srinivasa Rao’s constituency

Visakhapatnam: The YSRC Candidate of Visakhapatnam North Mr KK Raju has demanded re-polling in the constituency after he found that the VVPAT slips were gone missing. The YSRC doubts that other EVMs were also altered and that has helped Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao to win the election.

The Returning Officer has announced that Ganta Srinivasa Rao has won the election with 1800 votes. The YSRC has reminded that about six EVMs were not counted with technical issues and asked them to count them. The officials have resolved issues with two EVMs and decided to count VVPAT slips for the rest four EVMs.

According to KK Raju, the Returning Officer has started counting VVPAT slips and found only 107 slips in the box in which about 371 should be present. The YSRC questioned about the rest for which the returning officer said that during the election a VVPAT box was changed and it is presently not found. Immediately, the YSRC leaders have alleged that there might be several irregularities and asked the Returning Officer to give a letter saying that the box was missing. The RO has denied it and said it is not possible. Irked with this they have demanded a re-poll in the constituency.

When approached the District Collector K. Bhaskar, he said that the VVPAT box was kept in another strong room and it was not missing. He also said that they bringing it and will continue the counting process. However, he said that as it deviated to another strong room the same thing will be informed to the Election Commission of India.