Stage set for polling in 123 urban local bodies in Telangana

Hyderabad: More than 52 lakh voters are eligible to cast their votes in 116 municipalities and seven corporations in Telangana on Wednesday, officials said on Tuesday.

The State Election Commission (SEC) has made elaborate arrangements to ensure smooth and peaceful polling in 123 urban local bodies.

A total of 52,17,413 voters are eligible to cast their votes at 8,191 polling stations.

The polling will be held from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The SEC has deployed 1,379 Returning Officers and 41,773 polling staff for the polling process.

State Election Commissioner Rani Kumudini said voters can download the voter slips through SEC website or TE-POLL app.

According to SEC, 12,944 candidates are in fray for 2,981 wards in the urban local bodies.

Polling is being held for 2,569 wards in 116 municipalities.

Twelve candidates in nine municipalities have been elected unopposed.

The SEC has postponed polling for a ward in Makthal municipality in Narayanpet district following suicide by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate on Monday night.

A total of 10,719 candidates are testing their political fortunes in 116 municipalities. They include 2,358 candidates of ruling Congress, 2,478 of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and 2,252 of BJP.

Officials said that 6,017 polling centres have been set up for polling in municipalities.

Polling will be conducted for 412 wards in seven municipal corporations.

Candidates in two wards in Mahabubnagar and Ramagundam were elected unopposed.

Authorities have set up 2,174 polling centres in seven corporations.

As many as 2,225 candidates are in fray in these corporations. They include 410 candidates of Congress, 401 of BRS and 382 of BJP.

Meanwhile, Telangana Director General of Police (DGP) B. Shivdhar Reddy has said that tight security arrangements have been made for polling.

The police identified 1,302 polling centres as highly problematic and 1,926 centres as problematic.

Additional forces have been deployed at these centres.

He said that webcasting has been arranged in all polling stations for transparency, and surveillance cameras are also being used outside the centres in the most problematic areas.

The DGP said that about 3,000 additional police personnel have been deployed to maintain law and order.

He added that the silent period came into effect after the campaign period ended at 5 p.m. on Monday, and at present, visible policing has been increased and patrolling has been intensified.

Since the election code came into effect on January 27, the police have conducted record checks and have seized a total of Rs 3.09 crore worth of cash and other items during the checks conducted since January 27 when the model code of conduct came into force.

The police seized Rs 1.29 crore cash, liquor worth Rs 1.21 crore, drugs worth Rs 15.7 lakh, and gold and ornaments valued at Rs 28.69 lakh.

He said that 20 check posts have been set up on the borders of neighbouring states and 55 check posts on the borders of districts and continuous surveillance is being maintained to prevent illegal trafficking.

He added that special checks are being carried out on the borders of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and 181 flying squads and 167 static surveillance teams have been deployed.

“As a precautionary measure, 1,183 licensed weapons have been deposited across the state and 4,318 people who may disrupt law and order have been bounded over,” the DGP said.

He added that 398 non-bailable warrants pending in various cases have been executed and 142 FIRs have been registered so far regarding violation of election rules.

IANS