Gandhinagar, April 16 (Reporter) 97 candidates on Tuesday filed their nominations for the elections to 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat. Eight candidates filed their nominations for the by-elections to five assembly seats in the western Indian state. A release issued here by the state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), P. Bharti, said 97 candidates entered the fray for the Lok Sabha general elections and eight candidates for the Assembly by-elections in the state. The five Assembly constituencies holding by-polls are Vijapur, Porbandar, Manavadar, Khambhat, and Waghodia. Filing of nomination papers started from Friday for the general elections to 26 Lok Sabha seats and by-elections to five assembly seats in the state. Bharti informed that the first randomisation of EVMs has been completed in the presence of representatives of political parties in all the districts of the state. where EVM machines have been allocated from district level to assembly constituency (AS) level. After finalising the list of contesting candidates, the second randomisation of EVMs will be done in the presence of the contesting candidates or their representatives and the General Observer appointed by the Election Commission of India (ECI). A total of more than 4.19 lakh senior voters above 85 years of age and more than 3.75 lakh disabled voters with 40 per cent or more disability are registered in the voter list. The process of distributing prescribed Form-12D to them and taking back the filled forms is being done so that they can vote from their homes if they wish. To enable the employees of 12 essential services declared by the Election Commission of India to vote by postal ballot, a meeting was held with the nodal officers at the state and district levels to understand the method of voting by postal ballot. The distribution of prescribed Form-12D to them is on...////...