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The Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency, where polling was underway on Thursday, 11 April, along with 16 other constituencies in Telangana, may make it to the Guinness World Records for the maximum number of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) used.
The polling in this constituency began at 8 am, an hour after the process began in the remaining constituencies.
Telangana Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar said the mock-polling in Nizamabad took two hours and hence they started polling at 8 am.
Unlike the normal arrangement of linking one or maximum four EVMs with one control unit in each booth, 12 EVMs were linked to one control unit in each of the 1,778 polling centres in Nizamabad.
The EVMs of M3 version were arranged in 'L' shape with each machine carrying a maximum of 16 names.
With 185 candidates in the fray, it was thought the Election Commission will have to go for ballot papers as a normal EVM can accommodate a maximum of 64 names.
However, the poll panel decided to use the EVMs with latest technology developed by the Electronics Corp of India Ltd (ECIL). The public-sector company was asked to immediately supply 26,820 EVMs, 2,240 control units and 2,600 VVPATs of M3 make.
After the supply of the machines, the authorities faced another challenge of installing them with 12 EVMs connected to one control unit and train the polling staff keeping in view the special requirements of the constituency.
The new system also required deployment of additional polling staff. At every polling booth, two additional officers were deployed.
At the polling centres, the officials installed flexi board with the serial numbers, names, photographs and symbols of the candidate to enable the voters to easily locate their choice.
The poll officials have informed the local representatives of Guinness World Records about the use of record number of EVMs. They may visit the constituency on Thursday or later as EVMs will be stored in strong rooms for six months after the declaration of results.
The farmers also held a rally on the last day of the campaign and decided to vote among themselves to teach a lesson to the mainstream parties which failed to address their problems.
The constituency has a little over 15.53 lakh voters including 3.73 lakh farmers .
Telangana Chief Minister and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K Chandrashekhar Rao's daughter K Kavitha is seeking re-election from the constituency. The Congress has fielded two-time MP Madhu Yaskhi Goud while D Arvind is contesting on BJP ticket.
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