In a 1st, EC to use 25,000 EVMs for Nizamabad poll

HYDERABAD: The Election Commission of India (ECI) will be using the highest number of EVMs for conducting elections in Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency.
“In all 25,000 ballot units, 2,000 control units and 2,000 VVPATs will be used in Nizamabad. Each polling station will have 12 ballot units, one control unit and one VVPAT,” senior deputy election commissioner Umesh Sinha told the media on Tuesday, asserting that the Nizamabad election would be conducted as per schedule with EVMs on April 11.
There are 179 candidates, including turmeric and jowar farmers, in the fray in the constituency from where CM K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha is contesting.Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency covers the two districts of Nizamabad and Jagtial and has 1,788 polling stations with 1,272 polling stations in Nizamabad district and 516 polling stations in Jagtial district.
600 engineers to ensure smooth voting process in Nizamabad
“Hyderabad was the place where EVM was first made and it is now making history once again by being the state where the largest number of ballot units is being used in one constituency. Earlier, a maximum of four ballot units were used in the country. Now, in Nizamabad for the first time 12 ballot units connected to one control unit would be used. The poll process would be smooth, irrespective of whether one control unit is connected to four ballot units or 12. It is to be remembered that the phone will charge with the same ease whether the length of the power cable is one foot or 12 feet,” Sinha said.
Sinha said as many as 600 engineers from ECIL and BEL are being deputed to Nizamabad for smooth conduct of elections and would be on call till the end of the elections. The first phase of checking EVMs would begin on Wednesday.
The ECI team including senior deputy election commissioner Sinha, deputy election commissioner Sudeep Jain and director Nikhil Kumar held a meeting on Monday night with the state election authorities and also district election officers of both Nizamabad and Jagtial district on holding election and logistic support with EVMs in Nizamabad. Another meeting was held on Tuesday morning with the chairman and managing directors of BEL and ECIL to go through the details of movement of EVMs and engineers to the constituency. “Since the EVMs are being manufactured and supplied from Hyderabadbased ECIL, the availability of EVMs is not a major concern,” Sinha said.
The ECI has decided to depute special officers of the cadre of deputy collectors and tahsildars to the assembly segments to assist in the poll process. A senior IAS officer is being allotted to the Lok Sabha constituency to oversee the election process. The ECI also increased the number of sectoral officers and polling personnel, with one sectoral officer for every five polling stations and one additional polling officer to each polling station.
Meanwhile, farmers from Nizamabad met joint chief electoral officer Amrapali Kata and urged holding of the elections through ballot paper. They also complained that the returning officers were not cooperating with independent candidates.