NIZAMABAD: A day after the farmers who entered the fray in the Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency agreed to throw their weight behind just one candidate, they have decided against it on Tuesday. Now, all the 178 farmers will remain in the fray but they have urged the voters to avoid the first EVMs in the polling booths and vote for any candidate in the remaining 11 EVMs as the first EVMs will comprise names of candidates from all major political parties.
An announcement to this effect was made at the Farmers’ ‘Ikyavedika’ held at Armoor’s Mini Stadium on Sunday.
Advocate Rachana Reddy and other prominent personalities present on the occasion lauded the farmers’ decision to file nominations as a show of protest and then to continue to be in the fray in spite of receiving threats from opponents.
The meeting also adopted a resolution to force the government to accept the farmers’ demands to set up a separate turmeric board, and also include turmeric and red jowar to the list of crops that are given minimum support price (MSP) and provide Rs 15,000 per quintal for turmeric and Rs 3,000 per quintal for red jowar.
Speaking on the occasion, former MLC professor K Nageshwar, said that if Nizamabad and Jagtial districts MLAs should also threaten to submit their resignations to ensure the government fulfil the farmers’ demands. Showing solidarity with the farmers, he agreed that it was the responsibility of the government to ensure remunerative prices for all crops.
“If the government does not resolve their problems, the farmers will ensure that in the next elections, the Election Commission of India is forced to use the tenth generation of EVMs.”
It may be noted that with 185 candidates in the fray, the ECI will be using third generation EVMs (M3) in these elections since the older generations cannot accommodate more than 64 names at a time.