Preparation underway to conduct polls in Telangana: CEO Rajat Kumar

Telangana State Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar on Friday said that the preparations to conduct assembly polls in the state are in full swing.

Kumar while addressing a media gathering informed that this time booth level officers will be available at every polling booth centre. He also announced that apart from machines-ballot units, control units and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) will also be available at every polling booth.

Further talking about the arrangements to conduct the assembly polls, Kumar said that electronic voting machines (EVMs) and VVPATs have arrived and supply of the same would be completed by September 18.

"The first level of checking the EVMs will be done in the presence of all the political parties. Training sessions will be held for the RO (Returning Officer) and ARO (Assistant Returning Officer) for four days in a batch of 50 members," he said.

The Telangana State Chief Electoral Officer said around 51,000 ballot boxes and around 41,000 Control units will be used at the time of elections.

Though the polls for the Telangana assembly would have been held in June 2019, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao decided to go for early polls and dissolved the state assembly earlier this month, necessitating the constitution of a new government.

The Election Commission of India is yet to announce the poll schedule.