KOLKATA: As of now, Telangana has recorded 63.94 per cent voter turnout, till 5 PM, during the polling of its Assembly Elections, however, counting is still underway.
Among the polling personnel appointed, over 43,000 presiding officers, alongside 4,000 route officers. Moreover, the Election Commission of India had also deployed over 12,900 micro observers and 234 expenditure monitoring teams. The ECI notified that a polling station at the Devarokonda constituency was set up to only cater to eight voters.
“Video Surveillance Teams comprising around 640 personnel and Video Viewing Teams comprising 290 personnel were also deployed for the Telangana Elections,1,251 Flying Squad Staff and 1316 Static Surveillance Staff were also deployed to ensure that the integrity of the electoral process was maintained,” ECI noted to ensure constant surveillance and quick response to poll code violations.
FLASH: Voting continues in parts of Telangana. Poll percentage expected to rise further. #TelanganaElections2023 #TelanganaAssemblyElections
Reports:@Viveknarayan805
— The New Indian (@TheNewIndian_in) November 30, 2023
During the course of the elections, the ECI procured a total seizure of Rs 776.42 crore till 3 PM on Thursday, under various categories, of which 38.5 per cent of the seizure was in the form of cash inducements, 25.4 per cent through precious metals, 14.1 per cent through narcotics and 7.2 per cent through freebies.
The key players in this assembly elections have been determined to be the incumbent Chief Minister of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), K Chandrashekhar Rao, who is poised to go toe to toe against his former ally, initially from the same party, fighting under the banner of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gajwel.
On the other hand, KCR is also contesting from Kamareddy constituency, in a battle against Congress’ Revanth Reddy, who was initially a member of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), and is now fighting for the Congress party. Other key candidates include BRS’ G Kamalakar and the BJP’s Bandi Sanjay in Karimnagar, former cricketer and Congress member Mohammed Azharuddin and BRS’ Maganti Gopinath in Jubilee Hills, and BRS state minister KT Rama Rao and Kondam Karuna Mahender Reddy from the Congress, in Sircilla constituency.
Winning 88 seats BRS recorded a clean sweep at the 2018 Telangana Assembly elections. The Congress, on the other hand, managed to win 19 seats whereas Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen grabbed seven, while TDP and BJP won two and one seats respectively.
The overall voter turnout in 2018 was 73.7 per cent.