'I don't want to delay,' says Trump after loudly demanding delay in US elections

Hours after sparking a political firestorm, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he does t want to delay election, but expressed apprehension that counting of mailed ballots could take weeks and hamper results, leading to a compromised poll.

US presidential elections are schedule to be held on vember 3. Seeking his second consecutive term, Trump is facing a formidable challenge from Democratic minee and former vice president Joe Biden, who, according to major national polls, is leading in double digits.

presidential election date in United States statutorily is set as " Tuesday next after first Monday in month of vember" equalling " first Tuesday after vember 1". Trump on Thursday for first time openly floated idea of postponing presidential elections in vember, citing irregularities in mail-in vote. suggestion was immediately criticised by leaders of opposition Democratic Party. Later in day, Trump walked back.

"I don't want to delay. I want to have election. But I also don't want to have to wait for three months and n find out that ballots are all missing and election doesn't mean anything," Trump told reporters at a news conference when asked about his tweet suggesting election be delayed.

"With Universal Mail-In Voting (t Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to USA. Delay Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???" he had tweeted.

"Mail-In Voting is already proving to be a catastrophic disaster. Even testing areas are way off. Dems talk of foreign influence in voting, but y kw that Mail-In Voting is an easy way for foreign countries to enter race. Even beyond that, re's accurate count!" tweeted Trump, who has been raising serious concerns over irregularities in mail-in-vote.

Trump told reporters that mail-in-vote would delay counting of votes and election results.

"I don't want to be waiting around for weeks and months and literally, potentially, if you really did it right, years because you'll never kw. se ballots are missing," Trump said.

"That doesn't include absentee. Absentee is different. Absentee you have to work, and you have to send in for applications. You have to go through a whole procedure. For instance, I'm an absentee voter because I can't be in Florida because I'm in Washington. I'm at White House. So I'll be an absentee voter. We have a lot of absentee voters and it works," he added.

Democrats are pushing for mail-in-votes. During COVID-19 pandemic era, a large number of Americans are expected to opt for mail in voting to avoid standing in line and going to a polling booth to exercise ir right to franchise. Trump has expressed fear that this might be rigged and counting of votes itself might take a long time and results would t be declared on night on vember 3, which rmally happens.

"It's very, very unfair to our country. If y do this, our country will be a laughingstock all over world because everyone kws it doesn't work. How many ballots is he sending in California? Is it 28 million or so massive number? Or states are sending out millions and millions of ballots. Well, y've done it. y had experiments. y had news organizations experimenting," he said.

"And look, read story in Washington Post about mail-in voting. It's a disaster. I'm very surprised to see that story, frankly, from m. story's a disaster. So we're asking for a lot of trouble. And , do I want to see a date change? , but I don't want to see a crooked election. This election will be most rigged election in history if that happens," Trump alleged.

President said he wants an election and a result "much more than you".

"I think we're doing very well. We have same fake polls, but we have real polls. We were doing very well. I just left Texas and Biden came out against fracking. Well, that means Texas is going to be one of most unemployed states in our country. That makes Oklahoma, rth Dakota, New Mexico, it's going to be a disaster. Ohio, Pennsylvania, disaster. fracking," he said.