NIZAMBAD: With 185 candidates, including 178 farmers contesting in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from Nizamabad parliamentary constituency, the Election Commission has decided to hold elections through ballot paper.
The decision has been taken owing to the inability of present EVM models to be used for such a large number of candidates.
Telangana Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar said, “There are 185 contestants in the fray in Nizamabad so we will be conducting elections using ballot papers. Once Form 7A is received, printing of ballot paper will be taken up. ”
“Ballot papers have been used in the state in 1996 and 2010 and also the in the recent Gram Panchayat elections held in January 2019. We are using M2Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL) machines also. These can only take 63 in addition to NOTA,” he added.
Turmeric and red sorghum farmers filed their nominations en masse to highlight their problems, especially with regard to remunerative prices.
Rajath Kumar said the arrangements for conduct of polling with ballot papers were still under discussion and a final decision would be taken by the Election Commission.
He also said a total of 443 candidates were in fray for all 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state, going to polls on April 11. Medak constituency has only 10 candidates.
All 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana will go to polls in a single phase on April 11.
[source_without_link]With agencies input[/source_without_link]