LB Nagar set for record for using most balloting units

Hyderabad: The Lal Bahadur Nagar constituency, better known as LB Nagar constituency, is all set to set a record for the coming November 30 Assembly elections with not just the highest number of candidates – 48 in all, with 21 independents with several from rarely heard of or barely known parties – but also for being the constituency that will require the highest number of electronic voting machines or balloting units as the election authorities prefer to call them.

LB Nagar, according to state election authorities, will require 1,719 balloting units, the highest requirement among the 119 Assembly constituencies, while Malkajgiri constituency which has 33 candidates in the fray will have 1,287 such units. However, Serilingampally that comes behind these two constituencies in the number of BUs required, has the highest number of polling stations in the state at  638 compared to LB Nagar with 573 and 429 for Malkajgiri.

The number of BUs at each polling station will depend on the number of candidates from a constituency with each machine designed to have a list of 16 contestants. According to ECI officials, if the number of candidates is 15 or less, each polling station will have one BU, with one of the slots reserved for the NOTA (None Of The Above) option with this being the last of the choices available to a voter. With the maximum number of candidates whether from recognized parties or independents highest from Kamareddy, Gajwel, Malkajgiri, Uppal, LB Nagar, Nampally, Kodad, Munugode, Khammam, and Palair, these constituencies will have three BUs in each polling station. The rest of the constituencies will have between 1 and 2 units depending on the number of candidates.