Over 3.17 crore eligible to cast vote in Telangana

Hyderabad, May 12 (IANS) A little over 3.17 crore voters are eligible to cast their votes in Telangana as the stage is set for the polling in all 17 Lok Sabha constituencies on May 13.

The Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements for the peaceful and smooth conduct of the elections.

Polling will also be held for the by-election of the Secunderabad Cantonment Assembly constituency in Hyderabad.

A total of 3,17,17,389 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise across the state. They comprise 1,58,71,493 men, 1,58,43,339 women and 2,557 third gender.

As per the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vikas Raj, 20,163 voters have availed the facility of home voting. More than 1.88 lakh employees on poll duty have used postal ballot voting.

A total of 35,809 polling stations have been set up across the state.

After collecting the polling material from distribution centres, the staff will reach their respective polling stations by Sunday evening.

A total of 2. 94 lakh personnel including nearly a lakh security personnel will be on poll duty.

As many as 525 candidates are in the fray for all Lok Sabha seats in the state, which is witnessing a three-cornered contest among ruling Congress and opposition BRS and BJP.

Secunderabad constituency has a maximum number of candidates at 45. A total of 44 candidates are in the fray in Medak, followed by 43 in Chevella and 42 each in Peddapalle (SC) and Warangal (SC) constituencies. There are only 12 candidates in the Adilabad (ST) constituency.

Union minister and state BJP President G. Kishan Reddy is seeking re-election from Secunderabad. BJP National General Secretary and sitting MP from Karimnagar, Bandi Sanjay Kumar is contesting again from the same seat. BJP national Vice President D. K. Aruna is in the fray from Mahabubnagar.

AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi is seeking re-election for a fifth consecutive term from Hyderabad.

In the 2019 elections, BRS had won nine seats while BJP had bagged four seats. Congress could win three seats while AIMIM had retained the lone seat.

Polling will be held from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. in 106 Assembly segments. The polling hours were earlier fixed at 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Following representations made by the political parties and considering the heat wave conditions, the Election Commission on May 1 announced the decision to extend it by one hour.

However, in 13 Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected segments under five Lob Sabha constituencies the polling will conclude at 4 p.m.

Telangana had recorded a turnout of 71.34 per cent during the Assembly elections held in November 2023.

In the 2018 Assembly elections, 73.73 per cent of voters had cast their votes. However, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the turnout dropped to 62.11 per cent.

As part of the massive security arrangements for the polling, 160 companies of central forces have been deployed.

The CEO said 72,000 personnel from Telangana, 20,000 personnel drawn from the neighbouring states and 4, 000 personnel of other uniformed services will be deployed.

Sharing details of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), he said 1,05,019 Balloting Units (Bus) have been arranged. A total of 44,569 control units (CUs) and 48,134 VVPATs have also been deployed.

Three ECIL engineers have been assigned to each Assembly segment to attend to the complaints of malfunctioning of the EVMs.

Ever since the Model Code of Conduct came into force, authorities have filed 8,600 for its violations.

The enforcement agencies have seized cash and other freebies worth Rs. 320.84 crores

The CEO said 1.96 lakh polling personnel will be on duty across the state. There will be 3,522 sector officers and route officers. The poll panel has also appointed 12,909 micro-observers.

While the total number of polling stations is 35,809, there are 453 auxiliary polling stations.

The three Smallest polling Stations have 10, 12 and 14 voters respectively. Eleven polling stations have less than 25 voters each while 22 polling stations have less than 50 voters each. There are 54 polling stations with less than 100 voters each.

After the campaign came to an end at 6 p.m. on Saturday, the Election Commission banned the transmission of election-related bulk SMSs for 48 hours ending with the closure time of polling.