25 turmeric farmers from Nizamabad had filed nominations to contest for the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to highlight their agrarian woes. However, the Election Commission of India has rejected the nominations of 24. Now, Istari Sunnam Narsaiah will be the only turmeric farmer from Nizamabad who will now contest against Narendra Modi as an independent candidate.
The News Minute with reference to the Returning Officer for Varanasi stated that out of the 119 nominations received by the EC, 89 were rejected.
25 from Nizamabad and 4 farmers from TN had filed their nominations. Telangana Turmeric Farmers Association President Kotapati Narasimha Naidu told reporters that the Election Commission colluded with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that they would file a complaint about their nominations being rejected.
185 candidates including 178 farmers had contested from Nizamabad on December 11. As a result a record number of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were installed to conduct the polls. 12 EVMs of M3 version were used in each of the polling booths.