HYDERABAD: Stating that poll arrangements are being made on war footing in the Nizamabad Parliamentary constituency, State Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar said that the first level checking and randomisation of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) would be completed by April 7.
The required EVMs from Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) have reached Nizamabad and Jagtial districts. They included 27,185 Ballot Units (BUs), 3,530 Control Units (CUs) and 3,651 Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs).CEO Rajat Kumar, along with senior officials, will be visiting Nizamabad district on Friday to oversee the poll arrangements.
Rajat Kumar informed reporters that he would be holding a meeting with all the recognised parties with live demonstration of EVM arrangements followed by conducting of mock poll.
After the meeting, CEO will hold a meeting with District Collector and Returning Officer, Nizamabad Parliamentary constituency, BEL officials, Nizamabad Police Commissioner and all the Nodal officers. The first round of randomisation will be conducted on April 7.
L shaped compartment
As 185 candidates are in the fray, 12 Balloting Units will be used for the purpose. ‘’L Shaped Voting Compartment’’ will be arranged for casting the vote and VVPAT will be fixed in the centre of BUs, the CEO said.
Rajat Kumar said that as a large number of candidates are contesting the polls, there is bound to be a confusion among the voters on voting for a particular candidate, in this connection, big hoardings will be displayed at all the polling booths of Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency, so that voter before entering into the voting hall can check the names and symbols of candidates, he said.
Symbols allotted
Rajat Kumar also dispelled the rumours spread by independent candidates that symbols were not allotted to them. Nizamabad Returning Officer has allotted symbols to all the candidates. We have the list of all the candidates to whom the symbols were allotted. There are about 190 free symbols and candidates were allotted symbols based on their choice. Not allotting symbols to candidates is false and not correct, Rajat Kumar said.