Nearly 245 farmers filed their nominations for Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat in the wake of the “failure” of the Centre and the state government to ensure remunerative prices for their produce. Ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi nominee and Chief Minister Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter Kavitha is among the contestants in the constituency.
Their candidature will be rejected or confirmed once the papers are scrutinised over the next few days.
On whether EVMs can be used in view of the large number of contestants in Nizamabad, State Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar said that while the old machines cannot accommodate many, the new equipment can handle more. However, ballot papers would be used if need be, he added.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Rajat Kumar said around 8.5 lakh ballot papers would be needed for elections at Nizamabad. “The scrutiny of nominations will begin on Tuesday. If there are more than 96 candidates at the end of it, we will start printing ballot papers on war footing,” he said.
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The process of preparing ballot paper with names of candidates and party symbols would be completed by April 2 and thereafter go for printing, an activity that will take around two days.
“With the current polling infrastructure allotted to Nizamabad, each controlling unit (CU) can accommodate only six balloting units (BU). This means, they can be used only when the number of candidate is less that 96. With 245 prospective candidates, ballot papers could be needed,” he said.
The farmers have entered the poll fray in large numbers to highlight their plight. Turmeric farmers have demanded the formation of a Turmeric Board and for a Minimum Support Price (MSP). In solidarity with them, even farmers of sugar cane and workers of Bodhan Sugar Factory filed nominations of their own.
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