51.89% polling in Telangana till 3 p.m., Medak tops in turnout, Hyderabad tepid

Hyderabad, Nov 30 (IANS) Over 51 per cent voters cast their votes till 3 p.m. in Telangana Assembly elections on Thursday, officials said.

According to Chief Electoral Officer Vikas Raj, 51.89 per cent of voters cast their votes in the first six hours.

The turnout was poor in state capital Hyderabad and other urban areas despite special campaigns run by the Election Commission and several NGOs.

The statistics show Hyderabad recorded only 31.17 per cent per cent polling while the adjoining Medchal Malkajgiri and Rangareddy districts had also registered low per centage at 28.27 and 42.43 per cent, respectively.

Among 33 districts, Medak registered the highest polling at 69.33 per cent. It was 65.05 in Mahabubabad and 64.45 percent in Gadwal.

Jayashankar Bhupalapally districts registered a turnout of 64.30 per cent.

The state had recorded a polling of 73.7 per cent in the 2018 elections.

Meanwhile, polling came to an end at 4 p.m. in 13 constituencies in areas of Maoist influence in undivided Adilabad and Khammam districts. These constituencies are Sirpur, Chennur, Bellampalli, Mancherial, Asifabad, Manthani, Bhupalapally, Mulugu, Pinapaka, Yellandu, Kothagudem, Aswaraopet, and Bhadrachalam.

The polling in the remaining constituencies will conclude at 5 p.m.

Barring minor incidents at a few places, the polling was peaceful and smooth in all 119 Assembly constituencies.

A little over 3.26 crore voters, with women surpassing men, will decide the political fortunes of 2,290 candidates. The Election Commission had made elaborate arrangements for polling at 35,655 polling stations spread across 33 districts.

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao cast his vote in Chintamadaka village in Siddipet district. State Congress chief A. Revanth Reddy cast his vote in Kodangal constituency in Vikarabad district. BRS Working President K. T. Rama Rao, Union Minister and state BJP P:resident G. Kishan Reddy, BRS leader K. Kavitha, former Indian cricket captain and Congress candidate from Jubilee Hills, Mohammed Azharuddin, MIM President and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari, and Director General of Police Anjani Kumar were among the prominent personalities who cast their votes in Hyderabad.

More than 1.85 lakh polling personnel have been deployed while 22,000 micro observers were monitoring the polling process across the state. Authorities had arranged web casting at 27,094 polling stations across the state.

The Election Commission has made special arrangements for PwD (Person with Disability) voters at all polling stations, arranging 21,686 wheelchairs for them.

A total of 45,000 personnel from state police, 3,000 from other departments, 50 companies of the Telangana State Special Police (TSSP) and 375 companies of the central paramilitary forces were deployed as part of the massive security arrangements. As many as 23,500 homeguards from neighbouring states were also deployed.

Election authorities had arranged a total of 72,931 ballot units or EVMs. Of them 59,779 were deployed at polling stations while the remaining were kept in reserve for replacement.

A total of 2,290 candidates including 221 women and one transgender are in the fray. The candidates include seven MPs, 104 sitting MLAs, and five MLCs.

The BRS and the Congress are locked in a tough battle for power in India’s youngest state. While the BRS is aiming for a third consecutive term in power, the Congress is confident of forming the first government in a state which it claims to have carved out.

The BRS is contesting all 119 seats on its own, while the Congress has left one seat for its ally Communist Party of India (CPI). The BJP is the third major contestant in the fray and it may impact the outcome by cutting into anti-incumbency votes. It has fielded candidates in 111 constituencies and left the remaining eight for its ally Jana Sena Party (JSP) led by actor-politician Pawan Kalyan.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is contesting 107 seats on its own. The AIMIM, a friendly party of the BRS, has fielded candidates in nine constituencies, all in Hyderabad. In the rest of the state, it has declared support to the BRS. The CPI-M has fielded 19 candidates.