Friday, Jun 2, 2023

57.91 per cent voter turnout in Khammam Municipal Corporation polls

Though there were apprehensions about voter turnout in the wake of the Covid situation, voters have turned up in good numbers to cast their votes since morning hours

By Telangana Today

Published Date - 08:37 PM, Fri - 30 April 21

57.91 per cent voter turnout in Khammam Municipal Corporation polls — Voters waiting for their turn at a polling station in Khammam on Thursday

Khammam: The polling for Khammam Municipal Corporation (KMC) passed off peacefully barring minor incidents here on Friday. This was the second election held to the KMC after it was upgraded to Municipal Corporation from a special grade municipality in 2012.

Though there were apprehensions about voter turnout in the wake of the Covid situation, voters have turned up in good numbers to cast their votes since morning hours.

According to the officials, around 57.91 percent polling was recorded by 5 pm, and those in queue lines before 5 pm were allowed to cast their vote after the polling hours were over. The poll percentage registered in the first KMC election in 2016 was around 67.68 per cent.

A total of 250 candidates are contesting for 59 municipal divisions. Of the 60 divisions in the KMC, TRS candidate Chava Madhuri was elected unanimously from the 10th division as her opponents withdrew from the contest. Thus the TRS was contesting from 56 divisions,

Congress- 48, BJP -47, CPI- 3, CPI (M)-9, TDP-8, independents- 67 while 12 candidates from recognised parties in other States such as Jana Sena Party and other political parties were in the fray.

Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar cast his vote at Harvest School polling station along with his wife P Vasanthalakshmi and son P Nayanraj. Later, the Minister along with ZP Chairman L Kamalraj visited several divisions monitoring the polling process. He interacted with the TRS polling agents and enquired about the polling trends.

Khammam MP Nama Nageswar Rao cast his vote at Kavitha Memorial Degree and PG College. He, along with SUDA Chairman B Vijay Kumar, visited several municipal divisions and monitored the polling. District Collector RV Karnan and Zilla Parishad CEO Ch Priyanka have cast their votes at the Forest Office.

Mild tension prevailed at a few divisions as the workers of different political parties clashed with each other. In 55th division, the agents of Congress, BJP, TDP and TRS resorted to alteration over alleged casting of bogus votes. Similar incidents took place in 20, 57 and 58 divisions. However the police intervened and brought the situation under control.

A large group of Congress workers staged a protest in the 57th division demanding release of the party leader Mustafa, who was taken into police custody. A person attempted suicide by dousing himself with kerosene but the police stopped him.

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