Ever since the day of polling in Andhra Pradesh was marred with EVM malfunctioning and clashes, it created bad blood between the people and the Election Commission. The ruling Telugu Desam Party added fuel to fire and took the battle with EC even further. Now, with the tussle between TDP and EC getting murkier, the Chief Electoral Officer has issued a statement on delay in poll results.

According to Gopala Krishna Dwivedi, AP Chief Electoral Officer, the results of AP Assembly and General elections will be delayed because of VVPAT slips counting. Once the counting of votes in EVMs is completed, it may take an additional 7 to 8 hours to count the VVPAT slips, he informed mediapersons. This news has not gone down well with political parties and people in the state.

Not only are they questioning the delay in results but also the integrity of the Election Commission which can start the counting few hours before and announce the results along with the rest of the country. However, the Election Commission seems to have different set of rules for Andhra Pradesh, claim political parties, who allege that EC has been doing everything possible to manipulate the outcome.