T'gana Cong writes to EC over 'significant' rise in final poll percentage

The Congress Friday wrote to the Election Commission over a "significant" increase in the total polling percentage in Telangana announced at 5 pm on April 11 and the final figure declared the next day.

A Congress delegation submitted a letter to the poll body and urged it to furnish documents such as copies of reports from Returning Officers about the polling.

"The polling in the Lok Sabha elections on April 11 witnessed almost a similar increase of 5.26 per cent from 59.06 at 5 pm on polling day to 64.32 per cent announced the next day," former MLA Marri Shashidhar Reddy, who led the Congress delegation, said in a letter submitted to the Chief Election Commissioner.

He quoted a retired election official as having said that EVMs cannot be tampered with, but "can be misused depending on who gets his hands on them".

"The correctness of the number of votes polled after 5 pm is a big question," he said in the letter.

"The ruling TRS leaders in Telangana have "demonstrated their capability of invoking 'Sama danda bheda' techniques that are available to the ruling party in plenty", Reddy alleged.

Congress has decided to make a detailed study of the polling pattern in four of the Lok Sabha seats of Nizamabad, Secunderabad, Khammam and Chevella, he said.

He sought information, including copies of reports from the Returning Officers about the assembly segment-wise votes polled at 5 pm on the polling day and also on the next day in all the 17 parliamentary constituencies of Telangana which went to polls in the first phase.