In a directive issued on Tuesday, the Election Commission instructed the chief of police in Andhra Pradesh to pursue stringent criminal action against a ruling YSRCP MLA who was captured on video breaking an electronic voting machine (EVM) in the Macherla assembly constituency during the elections that took place on May 13. On May 13, electronic voting machines (EVMs) were broken in seven different polling stations in the Macherla constituency. One of these polling stations was number 202, where allegations have been made that local MLA P Ramakrishna Reddy was responsible for damaging an EVM.
According to a statement released by the office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mukesh Kumar Meena late on Tuesday, electronic voting machines (EVMs) were damaged in seven polling stations in the Macherla Assembly Constituency. One of these polling stations was PS no. 202, which is the polling station number where the incident of damage to an EVM by the sitting Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) P Ramakrishna Reddy was captured on web camera.
Taking into account the seriousness of the situation, the survey organization took this new development very seriously and instructed the chief executive officer to contact the Director General of Police Harish Kumar Gupta to take stringent criminal action against all of the individuals implicated. Election officials from the Palnadu district have passed on the video footage of these instances to the police in order to provide assistance to them in their investigation.
During the course of the investigation, the name of the Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) P Ramakrishna Reddy has been included as an accused individual, according to the statement. In addition, the Election Commission has issued a call to the police, urging them to take severe action against all of the individuals who were engaged in the cases of breaking electronic voting machines (EVMs). The goal of this action is to set an example which will ensure that “nobody in the future will dare to take any such action to interfere into the peaceful conduct of polls.”
Several locations in the districts of Palnadu, Tirupati, and Anantapur in the southern state of Tamil Nadu were affected by violence that was related to the election. On the 13th of May, Andhra Pradesh held elections for both the Lok Sabha and the Assembly simultaneously.