Telangana assembly elections: Defeat sends Congress into introspection mode

Hyderabad: The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) is reviewing the reasons for the party’s defeat in the recent assembly elections in the state.
The TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy conducted the review with the candidates at Gandhi Bhavan on Friday for more than three hours. Most of the Congress leaders said that EVMs were the cause. While some other leaders alleged that the number of votes counted was higher than the total number of votes polled.

According to Congress leaders, the total votes polled in Kodangal constituency was 1,52,110 but the total votes that were counted was 1,65,429. The Congress alleged that in some of the polling booths, the count was higher than the votes and in some of the booths, the number of votes counted was less than the total number of votes. The same complaints were received from constituencies like Kalwakurthy, Vikarabad and some other constituencies.

Considering the complaints, the Congress party released an RTI form with a few questions. The TPCC asked the candidates to file the RTI seeking a response under the RTI Act, 2005. The demands included furnishing of the Register of Voters in the constituency, accounts of votes recorded during the elections, furnishing the record of events mentioned in each presiding officer’s diary in the constituencies and furnishing the time when the “Close” button was pressed. The Congress also demanded that it be allowed to inspect VVPAT slips against each EVM used.

Speaking to media persons, Khairatbad Congress candidate Sravan Dasoju said, “We have condemned the deletion of 22 lakh voters, how can the Election Commission give the schedule and notification for the elections when the case is under trial. CEO (Chief Electoral Officer) Rajat Kumar and other EC (Election Commission) officials have behaved like TRS employees. The Congress party will raise the issue in the ongoing Parliament session. We will demand an enquiry by a Joint Parliament Committee and will make sure that the guilty are punished.”

The Congress has decided to initiate a movement demanding that the paper ballot be brought back. “We will fight for paper ballots in the High Court and Supreme Court. The election results are the machine’s mandate, but not the people’s mandate. The people have rejected entry to TRS candidates in more than 40 to 50 constituencies, what can we say when the same candidates won the elections with a huge majority.”