After midnight, close to 1.7 million votes were recorded, with some ballots cast within six seconds, sparking concerns over the 2024 Andhra Pradesh assembly elections in a recent press briefing held in Delhi. The NDA, under the leadership of Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP, secured a resounding victory, claiming 164 out of 175 seats. Economist Parakala Prabhakar highlighted that voting activities extended until 2 am across approximately 3,500 polling stations.
Prabhakar raised alarms regarding the data trends, revealing that about 4.16% of the total votes were cast between 11.45 pm and 2 am. During the period from 8 pm to 2 am, over 52 lakh votes were tallied, with a remarkable 1.7 million votes cast post-midnight alone. Notably, he pointed out the anomaly that a vote was registered every 20 seconds after midnight, questioning the plausibility of such rapid voting processes.
Concerns were also raised about the transparency and accuracy of the election results by various experts before the official announcement. The final outcome saw Chandrababu Naidu reclaiming the position of Chief Minister for the fourth term, with his party TDP securing 135 seats, while BJP and Jana Sena won eight and 21 seats, respectively.
Furthermore, discrepancies in the voter turnout data were highlighted following the conclusion of voting on May 13, 2024. The Election Commission of India (ECI) initially reported a 68.04% turnout, which was later revised to 81.79% after several adjustments, raising suspicions among opposition parties and experts.
During the press conference, advocates emphasized the lack of transparency in the electoral process, citing concerns over the non-disclosure of Form 17C detailing booth-wise vote counts and the inaccessibility of voter lists in machine-readable formats. The demand for increased transparency included suggestions for mandatory verification of VVPAT slips and real-time access to booth-level data to prevent potential manipulations.
Former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi echoed calls for an audit of election records, particularly emphasizing the need for scrutiny of Form 17C and Form 20. Quraishi highlighted discrepancies between booth-level and aggregated data, advocating for immediate disclosure of polling percentages and comprehensive booth-level summaries to uphold the integrity of the electoral process.