Hyderabad goes to polls on Tuesday

Over 74 lakh voters set to decide the fate of 1,122 candidates; water-tight security in place

Hyderabad: The people of Hyderabad will head to polling booths across the limits of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) on Tuesday after a 12-day high-octane campaign that concluded on Sunday.

The campaign, which attracted national attention with the electioneering being nothing short of the kind seen usually for Assembly or Parliamentary elections, will now move onto the next phase with voters to decide the fate of 1,122 candidates who are in the fray.

The State Election Commission (SEC) has made elaborate arrangements to facilitate 74,44,260 voters cast their ballot on December 1. The polling will commence at 7 am and conclude at 6 pm. Save for in a few divisions, leading political parties have fielded their candidates in almost all the 150 divisions. While the ruling TRS has fielded 150 candidates, the BJP is in the fray with 149 candidates, followed by the Congress (146), the TDP (106) and the AIMIM (51). A whopping 415 independent candidates as well have thrown their hat in the ring.

Of the total 74,44,260 voters, 38,76,688 are men, 35,65,896 women and 676 others. All arrangements are in place at the 9,101 polling stations in 150 wards, officials said. Sixty flying squads, with two each for a GHMC circle, and 30 statistic surveillance teams, one each for a circle, were constituted for the smooth conduct of the elections. The SEC is deploying 46,000 personnel for the polling duty keeping sufficient reserve.

Unlike in the past, the GHMC elections this time have triggered mass interest across the country. The entire top brass of the BJP including Home Minister Amit Shah descended on Hyderabad to campaign for the party candidates, even as the TRS stood on its own, with party working president KT Rama Rao spearheading the campaign with roadshows and meetings with different sections of the people. TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao too addressed a public meeting on Saturday.

The high-decibel electioneering apart, what fuelled the curiosity of many were the verbal duels between the ruling and the opposition parties, with the BJP making attempts to channel the attention towards divisive communal issues, which the TRS countered asking the public to decide between divisive politics and decisive policies.

For voters, on the other hand, these elections will be a new experience considering the Covid-19 pandemic and those without mask will not be allowed to vote. The polling staff too are being supplied with Covid-19 kits and sanitisers.

All the electors who have been issued Elector’s Photo Identity Card (EPIC) have to produce the same at the polling station for voting. They can otherwise also produce any one of the 18 alternative photo identity cards to establish their identity. Photo voter slips would not be considered as an alternate identification document, officials said.

ID proofs which can be carried

• EPIC card
• Aadhaar
• Driving licence
• PAN
• Passport
• Ration cards with photos
• MNREGA job card
• Health insurance card under Ministry of Labour
• Govt employee card
• Passbooks issued by govt
• Smart cards by RGI
• Identity cards with secretariat of Legislative Assembly or Council
• Identity cards with secretariat of Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha, members of parliament
• SC/ ST/ BC certificates
• Freedom fighter identity cards
• Arm licences
• Certificates of physically handicapped
• Pattedhar passbooks

Voter slip will not be considered an identity proof

 

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