Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, March 29
The Election Commission will use paper ballots to conduct polling in the Nizamabad parliamentary constituency. Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar has conveyed this to political parties after receiving a clarification from the Election Commission that as electronic voting machines (EVMs) cannot accommodate 185 names, voting will take place on paper ballots.
The decision on the date of polling, scheduled for April 11, has not been changed so far. However, there is a possibility of the poll being postponed on account of availability of required infrastructure. K Kavitha, daughter of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, in the sitting MP from this constituency.
Barring three candidates representing major political parties, remaining 182 candidates are farmers who are protesting inadequate minimum support price for their crop that includes turmeric, sugarcane and sorghum (jowar) and also demanding the setting up of a National Turmeric Board here.
The CEO has apprised the EC in Delhi and awaiting instructions on how to proceed further in the matter. The date (April 11), if changed, will have to be notified by the EC. Several farmers were persuaded to withdraw their nomination on the last day for withdrawal yesterday.
K Kavitha said the farmers had filed their nomination at the behest of the Congress and the BJP even though the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) had done a lot for the farmers and schemes like Rhythu Bandhu that gives financial assistance to the farmers have been replicated in eight states.
D Arvind, son of TRS Rajya Sabha member D Srinivas, is contesting from the BJP, while AICC secretary Madhu Yashki Goud is in the fray from Congress in Nizamabad. TRS won eight out of the nine Assembly segments in the Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency in the 2018 Assembly poll.
Kavitha told the farmers of the area that it was the NDA government that failed to set up the Turmeric Board in Nizamabad. “Is it I who gives the Turmeric Board or the NDA government? I request farmers to question BJP leaders on the issue. I tried my level best to persuade the Centre for the board,” she said.
The constituency has total of 15.53 lakh voters. It would be a huge task for the Election Commission to hold polls here, reverting to the old system after switching over completely to EVMs and VVPAT machines.
The EC is of the considered opinion that it would have to go with paper ballot in Nizamabad as an electronic voting machine accommodates a maximum of 63 names and one NOTA. — Rajat Kumar, Telangana CEO
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