TRS trying ploy to pin EC to paper

VV Balakrishna
First Published : 02 Jul 2010 07:25:57 AM IST
Last Updated :

HYDERABAD: Telangana protagonists are planning to contest in the byelections to 12 Assembly segments in the region in large numbers at the behest of Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekhara Rao to thwart the attempts of the Election Commission (EC) to use EVMs.

The machines can handle 64 candidates at most, and a number in excess of this would entail recourse to ballot paper.

It may be recalled that TRS had lodged a complaint with the EC recently that the use of EVMs posed a threat to the winning chances of TRS candidates.

The result, it is feared, could be tampered with as one could vote through a mobile phone from outside the polling booth if s/he ``knew the programme of EVM’’.

It is too late for the party to take legal recourse over its apprehensions as the schedule has already been announced and the EC has made it clear it wants to use the machines.

The only way to stymie the EC in this respect is to put up over 64 candidates in the fray. This is because the EVMs accommodate only 64 entries.

On Wednesday, TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao discussed the strategy with close aides.

He said ballot papers gave the voter a chance to c r o s s c h e c k whether s/he had indicated his choice correctly.

Should the TRS and Telangana protagonists succeed, the EC will have the Herculean task of printing newspaper- size ballot papers. It may be recalled that such ballot papers had been used some time ago in Nalgonda when leaders of the Jala Sadhana Samithi leaders filed nominations en masse pressing their demand for potable water.