With government employees using postal ballots in large numbers, the fear of defeat has taken hold in the ruling YSRCP before the counting even begins. As they are all perceived to be against the government, there is concern that they may have voted for the TDP alliance.
Due to mistakes made by many officials in the postal ballot voting process, efforts are being made to invalidate the votes of these employees. Counting of votes will begin on June 4 at 8 am. The counting of postal ballots will start first, and the counting of votes in EVMs will begin half an hour later.
This means that the results of the postal ballots are likely to be announced before the completion of one or two rounds of EVM vote counting. A total of 444,218 employees on election duty in 175 assembly constituencies of the state exercised their right to vote through postal ballot.
Apart from them, elderly people above 85 years, disabled individuals, and emergency services employees also voted. Altogether, 474,000 people have exercised their right to vote through postal ballot. Soldiers’ postal ballots are still arriving, bringing the total to over 500,000 postal ballots.
In the 2019 elections, only 262,000 postal ballots were cast. The doubling of this number is causing concern in the ruling party. In most parliamentary constituencies, except for one or two seats, between 15,000 and 25,000 postal votes were cast, with some constituencies seeing even higher numbers.
As the counting of votes will begin with postal ballots, there is a debate within YSRCP circles about whether the first blow will come from the employees’ votes. It is being discussed that the employees’ family members, pensioners, and their family members may have voted against the government out of frustration.
There are allegations that the YSRCP is determined to invalidate the postal ballots. This has led to criticism of the Election Commission and legal challenges in the High Court. It is also reported that many IAS officers are calling their lower-level staff for inquiries.
