Greater Hyderabad municipal polls to be held with ballot papers, says Telangana EC

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections will be conducted with ballot boxes and ballot papers given the prevailing Covid-19 situation, the Telangana State Election Commission (SEC) said on Tuesday.

 “Telangana SEC has decided to conduct the ensuing GHMC elections and other left-over ULBs (urban local body) polls with ballot boxes and ballot paper based on detailed deliberations, available time and also opinions expressed by the political parties,” an official said. “Many unskilled labour will be deployed for cleaning, unpacking and packing EVMs and VVPATs in a closed environment. During Covid-19, it is felt that conducting all these above activities would involve a high risk of community spread of the virus,” said State Election Commissioner C. Partha Sarathi.

 The 2009 and 2016 elections were conducted with EVMs. A mask is compulsory to vote in the GHMC polls. The onus will be on the voters to wear a mask and not depend on the State Election Commission (SEC) for its supplies.

 Though the SEC will keep masks at polling booths, there will be only a few of them and for emergencies only. The police personnel and officials on election duty at polling booths are likely to be given face-shields. The PPE kits would be given to officials deputed for counting of votes if required. There are about 80 lakh voters in GHMC limits.