Chandrababu Naidu bats for postal ballot system, seeks DMK support

Talking to reporters after meeting DMK leaders here seeking support for reverting back to the old voting pattern, he said several developed countries have dropped EVMs after using it.

“Countries like Germany, Netherlands, and Ireland have used EVMs and later abolished it," he said. “We don’t know which firms are making the EVMs. The recent incidents in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have increased our doubts on EVMs."

He said in a bid to reinforce the faith in the system, the Election Commission (EC) should scrap EVMs and reintroduce the paper ballot system. He said he came to Chennai to seek the support of DMK for reverting back to paper ballot system.

Taking at dig at the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, Mr Naidu charged it with encouraging cash-for-votes, by bringing in Rs 2,000 denomination and using them for distribution to the voters.

“When 1,000 and 500 rupee denominations were declared invalid, the government said it was to identify black money. But, they have brought Rs 2,000 denomination and are using it to distributed it to voters,” he said.

Flaying the Centre for remote controlling the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu, the Andhra CM termed it 'Modi DMK'.

''Hence, the people of the state wanted to make DMK president M.K. Stalin as the next Chief Minister," he added.

Image credit: Avishek Mitra/IBNS