E-Paper
Barring stray incidents, polling in Telangana municipal elections peaceful
According to Telangana state election commission authorities, nearly 70 per cent of the total number of 53.50 lakh voters exercised their franchise in all the municipalities and corporations spread over 32 districts by 5 pm, when the polling concluded officially.
Barring stray incidents of clashes, the polling for 120 municipalities and nine municipal corporations was held peacefully across Telangana on Wednesday.
According to Telangana state election commission authorities, nearly 70 per cent of the total number of 53.50 lakh voters exercised their franchise in all the municipalities and corporations spread over 32 districts by 5 pm, when the polling concluded officially.
“However, this percentage might go up slightly as there are still people in the queues at various polling stations at the time of closing of polling. They would be allowed to exercise their franchise,” SEC commissioner V Nagi Reddy said. The results would be declared on January 25.
The polling was held in as many as 7,961 polling stations across 129 civic bodies. About 12,846 candidates were in fray in 3,052 municipal wards, including 2,727 wards in 120 municipalities and 325 divisions in nine municipal corporations. Polling will not be held in 80 wards following the unanimous election of candidates.
The elections to 60 divisions in Karimnagar municipal corporation would be held on Friday. The campaigning for this corporation concluded on Wednesday.
In all, 45,000 polling staff and another 50,000 police personnel deployed for the elections. About 6,531 polling stations were kept under surveillance through either live webcasting, video coverage or micro observers.
The ‘Face Recognition App’ is being used for the first time in the country to prevent fake voters as part of a pilot project, at 10 polling stations under Kompally Municipality in Medchal-Malkajgiri district.
There were sporadic incidents of clashes in parts of Telangana during the elections. At Gandipet polling station in Gadwal municipality, the Congress and AIMIM activists indulged in attacks on each other, forcing the police to resort to lathi-charge. A Congress activist was reportedly injured in the scuffle which occurred after Congress activists accused AIMIM leaders of attempting to influence voters.
At Ward No. 32 in Bodhan municipality, Congress candidate Mohd Ilyas bit the nose of Telangana Rashtra Samithi candidate Md Imran alleging that the latter was resorting to malpractices. Ilyas was taken into custody by the police.
Incidents of clashes between the Congress and the TRS workers, BJP and TRS workers and BJP and MIM workers were reported from parts of Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar and Mahabubnagar districts. The police, however, quickly brought the situation under control.
