2,395 & 344 candidates in fray for AP assembly, LS polls

A total of 2,395 and 344 candidates remained in the fray for 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats respectively in Andhra Pradesh which goes to the polls on April 11, the Election Commission said Saturday.

State Chief Electoral Officer Gopal Krishna Dwivedi announced this to leaders of various political parties at a meeting here this afternoon, two days after the deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended.

Each ballot unit (electronic voting machine) would have names and pictures of 15 candidates apart from the NOTA (none of the above) button, the CEO said.

A second EVM would be used in constituencies where the number of contestants was more than 15, he added.

The Election Commission of India has deployed 200 observers to the state, including 75 general observers, for overseeing the Lok Sabha and Assembly election process.

Political parties could get in touch with the observers in case of any problems, Dwivedi said.

The CEO handed over the final list of electors, published on March 25, to the political parties.

The total number of voters in the state touched 3,93,45,717.

As many as 25,20,924 new voters have been added to the list, the CEO said.

Later, the CEO explained the functioning of EVMs and the Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines to the media personnel.

"There need not be any misgivings about the functioning of these machines. They are completely tamper-proof," Dwivedi said.

The name of the candidate and the respective party symbol would be visible for seven seconds after a voter cast the vote in the EVM.

The voting slip would then get deposited in the sealed VVPAT machine, he explained.

"There need not be any doubts or misgivings about these gadgets. They are tamper-proof," Dwivedi asserted.

He conducted a mock poll on the occasion to showcase the security features.