Today is the first day of the elections where 91 Lok Sabha and several assembly constituencies in various states and UTs go into polls. As the polling began in the morning, the first news of disturbances has also started coming in.
As per a report in News 18, Madhusudan Gupta, a Janasena MLA candidate in Andhra Pradesh have allegedly smashed EVMs in a polling booth after some altercation with the polling staff. The incident happened in Andhra Pradesh’s Gutti.
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The report says that Gupta was unhappy with the ‘unclear display’ in the EVM. It is notable here that Janasena is the party led by actor Pawan Kalyan.
As per the latest reports, the incident occurred in Ananthpur district of Andhra Pradesh. The MLA candidate had been arrested by the police. He has reportedly claimed that the EVM was not displaying the names of candidates properly. Gupta had picked up the EVM and smashed it on the floor.
Gupta was soon detained by the police and the machine was replaced. Reports say that polling has not been interrupted in the booth. There are videos of the incident doing rounds on the social media where the MLA candidate is seen barging inside a polling booth with some media persons in tow while voting was underway. He is seen shouting on the polling staff.
Gupta has gone to the polling booth in Gutti, under the Guntakal assembly constituency to cast his vote.
Andhra Pradesh is today voting for all of its 25 Lok Sabha seats and 175 assembly seats in a single phase.