Andhra Pradesh - Nizamabad   

EVMs create their share of problems

By Our Staff Reporter

NIZAMABAD, APRIL 20. The use electronic voting machines (EVMs) for the first time in the nine Assembly and Nizamabad parliamentary constituencies left the voters a confused lot. They struggled to cast their votes even as the presiding officers tried to help them.

The scene in almost all the polling stations in the district was the same as the voters entered the cubicles and appealed to the polling staff to help them identify the button to be pressed. This led to long queues, with each voter taking more than four minutes to cast his vote.

During the training for polling officials, it was said that three voters could cast their votes in one minute. Reality proved to be a bit different. "The voters were not properly trained to use the EVMs," said the presiding officer at a polling station in Banswada Assembly constituency. "The polling officials found it difficult to explain the methodology to each voter," he added.

A voter in Gandhari ZP high school booth said he had been waiting for more than an hour to cast his votes. "Several women who waited in the queue went back as they could not bear the severe heatwave conditions,'' Satish, a voter, said.

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• Naxal-affected areas witness heavy turnout
• Congress workers damage EVMs
• EVMs create their share of problems

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