Voter turnout dipped in Hyd due to 3-day holiday: CEO

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Electoral Officer Dr Rajat Kumar has said that voting percentage in GHMC limits in recent assembly elections was observed to be low (49 per cent) when compared to overall state figure of 73.4 per cent owing to many voters in the state capital going to their native places on account of three-day continuous holidays.

The Election Commission has analysed the low voting percentage in Hyderabad and arrived at this observation. " The voting day December 7 (Friday) was declared as a holiday by the government and it was followed by Second Saturday and Sunday. Due to three-day continuous holidays, many voters from city went to their native places or a holiday and hence could not exercise their vote. This time voting falls on Tuesday (April 11). Hope a majority of voters in GHMC limits exercise their franchise to put up a better voting percentage this time," he said.

Elaborating other details at a press meet held here on Saturday, Rajat Kumar said that commission received nearly 3.38 lakh fresh applications for voter cards. With the fresh additions, the total number of voters in Telangana would be close to 3 crore, he said. Rajat Kumar made mention of the February 22 list published by the election authorities that put the total number of voters at 2.95 crore.

Photo voter slips would be given from March 28 onwards by BLOs, he said, stating that those who do not receive slips need not be worried as they can collect the same slips from BLOs outside the concerned polling stations or can produce any of the 11 photo identity documents including passport, driving licence, PAN card etc. to exercise their vote.

The CEO said that commission would give Electoral Photo ID Card (EPIC) free of cost to those who applied fresh under Form-6 and others who submitted Form 6(A), 8 or 8(A) have to collect from nearest Mee Seva centres by paying a sum of Rs 25. He added that voter ID cards and voting slips to the newly enrolled ones would be distributed by April 5, six days before the polling day.

In wake of legal issues pertaining to EVMs and VVPATs in 20 assembly segments and hence their non-availibility for Lok Sabha elections, the commission is getting the electronic equipment from other states. In all nearly 17,000 EVMs (comprising Ballot Units and Control Units) and nearly the same number of VVPATs are being brought here to be used for the polls. These are in addition to the presently available 54, 953 Ballot Units, 40,038 Control Units and 41, 336 VVPATs.

Rajat Kumar said that First Level Checking (FLC) of the EVMs have been completed in all districts except for Karimnagar, Siddipet, Vikarabad, Mahabubnagar and Suryapet. He said they have sufficient polling staff (nearly 2.5 lakh) for conducting smooth polling on April 11.

Regarding seizures made so far, he said that Rs 5 crore worth of cash, liquor and contraband were seized by police and flying squads in the last few days. The CEO added that nearly Rs 1 crore worth of Heroin and Cocaine drugs were seized by Rachakonda police.

Authorities are suspecting whether these chemical drugs are being transported to induce voters, just like by distributing the liquor, he said. Replying to a query on Congress complaint that Pragati Bhavan (CM's office) is being used for political purposes, Rajat Kumar said that he forwarded the matter to Election Commission of India's notice.

As regards Postal ballot usage, commission is exploring the option of using a special software, used in recent GP elections succesfully in Asifabad, so that polling staff could exercise their vote without any hassles.