MLC poll cancelled due to photos’ mix-up; Repoll on March 19

Hyderabad: The Election Commission of India here on Thursday cancelled the polling of Teacher MLC election of RR-Mahbubnagar-Hyderabad districts following mix-up of photographs of two candidates in the ballot paper.

The CEC ordered the repolling to the seat on March 19. State Election Commissioner Banwarlal announced the EC decision in the evening.

As soon as the polling began in the morning, the glaring mix-up of photographs of two candidates in the ballot paper led to utter confusion among the electorate. There are 12 candidates in the field for the one Teacher MLC seat of RR-Mahbubnagar-Hyderabad districts, the polling for which was held on Thursday.

Soon after the polling commenced, it was noticed by the voters in some polling booths that the photographs of UTF candidate Manik Reddy (serial no.3 in the ballot paper) and that of Independent candidate Laxmaiah (serial no. 9) were got mixed up. The agents of the candidates raised objection and protested demanding that the polling be stopped forthwith.

The issue was brought to the notice of the State Election Commissioner Banwarlal by both the candidates, whose photos got mixed up and a demand was made to postpone the elections as the mix-up had occurred due to negligence of the Election Commission officials.

Reacting to the mix-up of the photographs of the two candidates, Banwarlal pointed out that in the first proof of the ballot paper, some spelling mistakes were found and corrected though there was no mix-up of the photographs. When the second proof came, the officials verified whether the spelling mistakes were corrected or not. But surprisingly the photos of the two candidates got mixed up during printing of the ballot paper. How this mistake had occurred and whether there was any mischief played in this regard is being investigated, he said and added that a report was being sent to the Chief Election Commissioner.

What is intriguing is that despite the glaring mix-up of the photos of two candidates, who had even demanded postponement of polling, the election process continued without any interruption.