Hyderabad: The Election Commission has cancelled polling for the Hyderabad Teacher’s MLC constituency due to mistake in ballot papers. Repolling will be conducted on March 19.
In the ballot paper, photos of two independent candidates were interchanged. Adi Laxmaiah’s photo was printed against the name of UTF candidate P. Manik Reddy, while Manik Reddy’s photo was printed against Adi Laxmaiah’s name.
Manik Reddy staged a dharna at Ambedkar statue near Tank Bund demanding cancellation of polling. Even after the goof-up was pointed out, polling continued till the evening as CEO awaited directions from the EC.
Manik Reddy withdrew the dharna after the EC decided to cancel the polling. Both candidates met Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwar Lal and asked him to cancel the polling due to mistakes in the ballot paper. Based on the report sent by the CEO, the EC cancelled the polling.
Mr Bhanwar Lal told the media that the mistake happened at the government printing press and action would be taken against the guilty.
He said they had seen the first proof of ballot paper and corrected the mistakes, but the photos got interchanged in the printing press. He said the nodal officer should oversee every stage of printing of ballots.
