HYDERABAD: Clearing the air over whether polling for Nizamabad Parliament constituency would be as scheduled on April 11, the Election Commission officials have said that there would be no postponement and pointed out that it would set a new record in the country for using the largest number of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
Previously, only four EVMs with about 64 candidates were used in the country, more than 64 candidates ballot papers were used for polling but now it is going to be the first time in the country where 12 Ballot Units to accommodate 186 candidates, including the None Of The Above (NOTA) option. New M3 versions or third generation EVMs, which can cater to up to 384 candidates will be used.
The ECI team is satisfied with the poll preparedness and is confident that Telangana will create history with Nizamabad Lok Sabha polls, Senior Deputy Election Commissioner, Umesh Sinhasaid and made it clear that polls to Nizamabad Lok Sabha will be held as per the schedule notified on April 11 using EVMs and VVPATs.
The poll process would be smooth and hassle free as it is when one Balloting Unit is used, he said while adding that “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”.Umesh Sinha, along with Deputy Election Commissioner Sudeep Jain and Telangana Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar, said that the election will involve 25,000 Ballot Units (BUs), 2,000 Control Units (CUs) and 2,000 Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPATs) machines and 600 engineers from Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) are en route to Nizamabad and Jagtial to prepare the EVMs.
These engineers will be available in the parliamentary constituency till end of poll process. Each polling station will have 12 Ballot Units, one CU and one VVPAT. The Nizamabad Parliamentary Constituency covers two districts of Nizamabad and Jagtial with a total of 1,788 polling stations -- 1,272 in Nizamabad district and 516 in Jagitiyal district.