Nizamabad: The Chief Electoral Officer, Dr Rajat Kumar on Thursday termed the large deployment of electronic voting machines to enable polling for the 185 candidates at the Parliamentary constituency of Nizamabad, a first in the history of Indian elections since the advent of the
The Chief Electoral Officer emphasized that the poll arrangements at Nizamabad were being carried out on war-footing and said that 27,185 EVMs, 3,530 control units and 3,651 VVPATs have been deployed across 1,788 polling stations in Nizamabad and Jagtial.
Dr Rajat Kumar also highlighted that the EVMs would be taken straight to the constituency for the first level of checking—at three in Nizamabad (with two to be added shortly) and five in Jagtial — instead of the strong-room.
The first round of randomization will be conducted, in the presence of poll observers and representatives of political parties, on April 7.
The Chief Electoral Officer also dispelled rumours regarding the non-provision of poll symbols to several independent candidates and explained at great length the measures taken at all levels to make the symbols available for the candidates’ choice.
Dr Rajat Kumar also displayed special posters, which would be placed at each polling station in Nizamabad, depicting the arrangement of the EVMS.
The Chief Electoral Officer also announced that he would visit Nizamabad on Thursday, April 5, 2019, to inspect various poll arrangements and will hold meetings with recognized political parties, electoral and police officials.
To give the electorate the feel of voting with multiple EVMs, a model polling booth was set up in Korutla in Nizamabad Constituency, from where 185 candidates are contesting.
There are 1,800 polling stations in Nizamabad. Over 600 engineers, brought in from Hyderabad and Bengaluru, have been appointed to deal with any technical difficulties. For the first time, 12 EVMs will be used in every booth along with VVPAT machines to accommodate the huge number of candidates.
EC technical consultant Nikhil Kumar said that any person can walk into the model polling booth to try and cast a mock vote to get a feel of the process. Even as farmers, who are contesting from the seat demanded ballot paper voting, Kumar said, "Only EVMs will be used to conduct the polling here on April 11. This will make the process easy, convenient and extremely voter-friendly."
"This is a historic election. For the first time in India, we are going to witness a large-scale election using EVMs. Till now we used a maximum of four units, but here we will be using 12," he added. Kumar also urged voters to turn out in large numbers and exercise their franchise to uphold democracy.
There are 1,800 polling stations in Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency, for which the Election Commission has readied 25,000 EVMs for April 11. The constituency gained prominence after over 170 farmers filed their nominations and did not back down from contesting as a form of protest.
Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat consists of seven assembly segments. These are
She had defeated Madhu Yaskhi Goud of the Congress who had got 2,70,948 votes. Nizamabad is one of 17 Lok Sabha constituencies at stake in Telangana. The polling for the Lok Sabha election in the state will be held in a single phase on 11 April, while the counting of votes will take place on May 23.
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