Chandrababu Naidu: Opposition parties to meet to decide on PM candidate

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu said that the leaders of the opposition parties will meet after the elections to decide on the prime ministerial candidate.

"Opposition parties will sit together after the election and discuss who will be the Prime Minister. I'm not an aspirant. Polling is to be held in 3 more phases, after that we will discuss," he said while addressing media persons here on Wednesday.

He also took a swipe at the Election Commission saying that the poll body favours Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said: "The Election Commission says they are following the instructions of PM Modi but PM himself is violating the code of conduct. Time and again he spoke on Armed forces and held cabinet meetings."

His comments came two days after the Supreme Court issued a notice to the Election Commission after hearing the petition of Congress MP Sushmita Dev against PM Modi and BJP president Amit Shah for allegedly violating MCC on various occasions.

He also alleged that the EC's system of counting Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) is not "transparent". "We have demanded counting of 50 per cent of votes through VVPATs. It will give more credibility to EC and would elevate trust amongst voters," he added.

The Chief Minister also pointed that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) reportedly malfunctioned in West Bengal, MP, Odisha and other non-BJP ruled state, while advocating for ballot system. "It is the best method. Most of the major countries are following the same system," he said.

Sharpening his attack on PM Modi, Naidu accused him of damaging the "constitutional institutions" in the country. "Modi thinks the PM post is a game. In my 40 years long career, I am seeing this kind of elections for the first time.

-ANI