Polling underway amid tight security in Telangana’s Munugode

The polling process began at all 298 polling stations in the constituency in Nalgonda district at 7 a.m. and will continue till 6 p.m.

Hyderabad: Polling was underway in the by-election to the Munugode Assembly seat in Telangana on Thursday amid tight security.

The polling process began at all 298 polling stations in the constituency in Nalgonda district at 7 a.m. and will continue till 6 p.m.

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Over 2.41 lakh electorate, half of them women, are eligible to exercise their franchise to decide the political fortunes of 47 candidates.

The polling began on a dull note in most of the polling booths. Authorities and political parties expect it to gather later in the day.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vikas Raj said the polling process was being monitored through web casting from all polling stations.

For the smooth conduct of the polling process, 1,492 polling personnel have been deployed. The poll authorities have also deployed 199 micro observers

As many as 3,366 state police personnel and 15 companies of central forces have been deployed to ensure peaceful and free and fair polling. Authorities were especially focusing on 105 polling stations which have been identified as critical.

For the first time, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued new EPIC cards with six security features, including a hologram.

There are a total of 47 candidates in the fray but the main contest is among three major players — TRS, BJP and Congress.

The bypoll was necessitated after sitting MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy resigned from the Congress to join the BJP in August. Reddy is now contesting on the BJP ticket.

The TRS has fielded former MLA Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy, who had lost to Rajagopal Reddy in 2018.

The Congress has fielded Palvai Sravanthi Reddy, daughter of former MP Palvai Goverdhan Reddy.

TRS candidate Koosukuntla Prabhakar Reddy cast his vote at a polling station in Lingavarigudem of Sansthan Narayanpur mandal while Congress candidate Palvai Sravanthi cast her vote at the polling station of Indikudi in Chandur mandal.

BJP candidate Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, who was yet to cast his vote, visited a polling station setup in Government School at Munugode while independent candidate KA Paul also visited polling stations at Chandur. Paul, who was allocated the ‘ring’ symbol, came wearing rings on all 10 fingers.

Both State police and Central paramilitary forces are handling security at 105 critical polling stations in the constituency.

Voting will go on till 6 pm, with Munugode recording a poll percentage of 91.38 percentage in the 2018 Assembly elections.