Postpone Nizamabad polls by 10 days: Farmers urge EC

Nizamabad farmers urge EC to postpone the polls by 10 days saying they need sufficient time for campaigning. Over 170 farmers have filed their nominations for the April 11 Lok Sabha elections in Nizamabad constituency. They were protesting against the state govt saying TRS had failed to ensure MSP for turmeric and red jowar.

Hyderabad: A section of farmers contesting the Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat, from where Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's daughter K Kavitha is seeking re-election, Tuesday urged the Election Commission to postpone the polls by 10 days, saying they needed sufficient time for campaigning.

"As political parties have been propagating their symbol to voters even before the election process begins and most of them are known to voters, we, the Independent candidates who are farmers and have been allotted symbol at an advanced stage, are deprived of equal opportunity to contest the election and take our symbol to the masses in our constituency.

Thereby we request your kind authority to postpone the election by 10 days or at least keep election along with the second phase for the Nizamabad constituency," the farmers urged in a memorandum to the Election Commission and the Chief Electoral Officer, Telangana.

Over 170 farmers have filed their nominations for the April 11 Lok Sabha elections as a mark of protest, alleging that the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) had failed to ensure Minimum Support Price for turmeric and red jowar (sorghum) produce and in getting the Turmeric Board established in Nizamabad.

The farmers have also demanded that only paper ballots be used on polling day instead of Electronic Voting Machines as announced by the EC.

With 185 candidates, including the farmers, in the fray, the EC has instructed the Chief Electoral Officer, Telangana, to make arrangements to conduct the polls to the constituency using EVMs.