Vijayawada: TD supremo and Chief Minister Electronic Voting Machines has once again raised apprehensions over the functioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). In a teleconference with TD leaders on Tuesday, he said international cyber experts had warned that EVMs could be tampered, and had provided ample evidence.
“There should be no room for suspicion in democracy and none should have doubts on the voting process. Democracy in doubt is dangerous. Only after the TD fought the issue, did the VVPAT receipts come up. But the print on the receipt was very light and melted quickly. Also, VVPAT was not available fully in all the constituencies. A national-level debate has been raised on the issue and the representatives of 22 parties will soon meet the Election Commission on this,” he said.
Mr Naidu also pointed out that 120 countries in the world did not use EVMs and only 20 countries used them. The TD encouraged technology but there is a danger of misuse of technology. People should be wary of EVMs and there should be more awareness about them, he opined.
He also asked the party cadres to firmly take the historic decisions of the Cabinet to the people in the State. Mr Naidu said that he had already recommended to the Centre that five per cent of the 10 per cent reservations be given to Kapus. “We wanted five per cent reservations for Kapus. But the BJP leaders did not agree. Of the 10 per cent reservations announced by the Centre now, we have already given five per cent to Kapus and the remaining 5 per cent will be given to the other EWS,” the CM stated.
Mr Naidu also announced that '250 crore would be paid in advance to Agri Gold victims. The poor, small depositors would be paid first which would provide quick relief to the six lakh victims. Justice would be done to others too in accordance with the High Court direction, he said. Life tax on autos was withdrawn and the quarterly tax on tractors too was exempted. Every auto driver should support the TD, so should every tractor owner, he said.
Those who had built houses without sanctions, would also be helped. As many as 1.26 lakh houses were built after 2014 and each of them was being given '60,000, benefiting up to '756 crore in all, he revealed.
Mr Naidu further said that it was clear that the BJP was worried when it said that the non-BJP alliance had four Prime Ministers. The BJP was shaken after the Kolkata rally, he opined. Union minister Mr Nitin Gadkari had lied when he said that Andhra Pradesh got more funds than others, he averred. Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh had got more funds and the bullet train project alone was allocated over '1 lakh crore, the Chief Minister pointed out.
“What AP got were roads, all of which collected toll fee and the BJP leaders claim as though they had done a favour to AP. There was nothing special about the funds that AP had got which were like the other states,” he remarked. The DPR-2 of Polavaram project was delayed by a year though the Centre had promised to clear it in a month and Gadkari owes us an explanation for this,” he said.
The Chief Minister stated that States received funds only with Mr Modi’s approval and “Modi was a symbol of discrimination,” he commented. “Andhra Pradesh has not developed with BJP’s help but due to our own efforts and the entire credit for developing AP goes to the TD,” he said. Mr Naidu also noted that AP was ranked 49 in WEF Index whereas India was ranked 58. AP would be taken further ahead, he promised.
