Voting for 175 Assembly seats and 25 Parliamentary seats in Andhra Pradesh is being held simultaneously in a single-phase election on Thursday. It is essentially a three-cornered fight in the State — the ruling Telugu Desam Party seeking re-election, Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSR Congress emerging as a strong contender, and actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena the new entrant.

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According to the latest reports, Electronic voting machine (EVM) glitches were reported in several places in Andhra Pradesh, prompting Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu to demand repolling. In a letter to the Election Commission, Naidu said that 30 percent of the EVMs were not functioning till 10 am. He also demanded re-polling in some of the booths. Naidu said that three hours of polling time had been wasted by faulty EVMs and there were complaints that votes cast for TDP were going to YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).

In response to his letter, Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Gopal Krishna Dwivedi said the defective functioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) was a small problem caused by faulty connections and it was being sorted out. He assured the voters that all those present in queues up to 6 p.m. would be allowed to cast their votes. Mr. Dwivedi stated in a press release that polling was going on peacefully and without any major glitch. He predicted that voting percentage could be far higher than the previous time going by the impressive turnout in the first three hours.

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