EVMs to have candidates'' pictures in Rajasthan bypolls

Jaipur, January 19

The Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the bypolls will have photographs of candidates contesting elections, Rajasthan's chief election officer said on Friday.

The bypolls are due on January 29 in Ajmer and Alwar parliamentary and Mandalgarh Assembly seats.

And though the same procedure was followed in the Dholpur assembly bypoll in Rajasthan last year, according to the chief election officer, this time it will be done for the very first time in any Lok Sabha elections.

"The arrangement was made to make sure there was no confusion on candidates with similar names contesting election," Rajasthan's Chief Election Officer Ashwani Bhagat said.

Under the new system, a 2.5 cm size photograph of the candidate contesting will be displayed on the EVM.

The EVM will have name of the candidate, photo and the election symbol. However, for NOTA option the space for photo will be left blank.

Ballot papers meant for service employed voters will also have photographs of candidates' contesting election, the officer said.

According to the chief election officer, the ballot paper will have candidates' photograph along with their name, both in English and Hindi.

11,580 service employed voters will cast their votes in the by-polls, he said.

On all the three seats, over 39 lakh voters would be exercising their franchise during the bypoll.

There are nearly 18.27 lakh voters in Alwar, 18.42 lakh in Ajmer and 2.31 lakh voters in Mandalgarh.

The department has set-up 1979 polling stations in Alwar, 1907 in Ajmer and 280 in Mandalgarh. — PTI