EC deploys three EVMs at each Chandigarh booth

Each polling booth in Chandigarh, going to the polls on Sunday, will have three electronic voting machines (EVMs) to accommodate 36 Lok Sabha candidates.

Since an EVM can carry only 16 names, the Election Commission has arranged for three EVMs at each booth to accommodate all the candidates as well as the 'none of the above' (NOTA) option.

There are 597 booths at 191 polling stations in the 'City Beautiful'.

The Lok Sabha seat is witnessing a triangular contest among four-time MP and Congress candidate Pawan Kumar Bansal, 70, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sitting MP Kirron Kher, 66, and former Union minister Harmohan Dhawan, 78, of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Former Railway Minister Bansal, who lost to Kher by nearly 70,000 votes in the 2014 elections, said she had failed to develop rapport with the city residents as well as BJP workers.

While Kher is banking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity, Dhawan of the AAP has made "promise versus performance" his poll plank and been criticising earlier MPs of failing to bring central projects to the Union Territory.

According to Deputy Commissioner-cum-Returning Officer Mandip Singh Brar, there are 3,41,640 male and 3,04,423 female and 21 transgender voters. Of this, 17,598 voters were in the 18-19 years age group and 3,157 with disability, Brar told IANS.

--IANS

vg/kr/pcj