EC braces for ballot paper election for Nizamabad Lok Sabha election

HYDERABAD: Election Commission officials are now mobilising ballot boxes from various districts and are in talks with printers for printing ballot papers for Nizamabad Lok Sabha election.
The chief electoral officer has decided to go for ballot voting in Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency, as 189 nominations have been accepted.
Several turmeric farmers, in the hope to garner attention towards their plight, have also filed nominations against chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s daughter and TRS MP K Kavitha.
Across the state, election authorities have rejected nominations of 143 people, which includes 14 from Nizamabad. A total of 503 nominations have been accepted.
Chief electoral officer, Rajat Kumar, told TOI: “EVMs can accommodate only 63 candidates plus one NOTA. In Nizamabad, nominations of 189 people were accepted. But we will have to wait till the withdrawal of nominations before arriving at the exact number. Assuming that 189 candidates will contest, we have arranged for ballot boxes of bigger size. We are checking with all districts on the availability of bigger ballot boxes.”
When asked if poll date for Nizamabad will be rescheduled due to lack of ballot boxes and time for printing ballot papers, he said, “I can’t comment at this moment.”
Across the state, election officials have started distributing EPIC cards, photo voter slips and voters’ guide. Booth-level officers are going door-to-door and distributing the documents.