Telangana braces up for polling in 17 Lok Sabha constituencies on Monday

Secunderabad constituency has a maximum number of candidates at 45, followed by 44 candidates in Medak, 43 in Chevella and 42 each in Peddapalle (SC) and Warangal (SC) constituencies.

Hyderabad: Telangana is bracing up for a showdown on Monday, with over 3.32 crore voters set to decide the fate of 525 candidates in 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in the State. This will be the second general elections in Telangana after State formation.

The Election Commission of India has already made elaborate arrangements for peaceful and smooth conduct of polling. Polling also will be held for the by-election of the Secunderabad Cantonment Assembly constituency in Hyderabad. Polling will be held from 7 am to 6 pm in 106 Assembly segments.

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The polling, which was earlier scheduled to conclude at 5 pm, has been extended by an hour following representations made by political parties and considering heat wave conditions. In 13 Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected segments under five Lob Sabha constituencies, the polling will conclude at 4 pm.

Of the total 3.32 crore electorate in the State, around 1.65 crore are men and another 1.67 crore are women, while 2,760 belong to third gender. Around 1.96 lakh government employees who are on election duty, cast their votes through postal ballots.

The Home Voting process which was introduced for the first time, began on May 1 and concluded peacefully on May 6, where around 20,163 voters availed the facility. In all, 525 candidates are in the fray for all Lok Sabha seats in the State.

Secunderabad constituency has a maximum number of candidates at 45, followed by 44 candidates in Medak, 43 in Chevella and 42 each in Peddapalle (SC) and Warangal (SC) constituencies.

There are only 12 candidates in the Adilabad (ST) constituency. A total of 35,809 polling stations along with 453 auxilliary polling stations, have been set up across the State.

A total 2.94 lakh personnel including nearly one lakh personnel from the uniformed services will be on the poll duty. The election material has been distributed and the staff are expected to reach their designated polling stations on Sunday night.

The State recorded 62.11 per cent voter turnout in the 2019 Parliamentary elections. The BRS (then TRS) won nine seats, BJP secured four, Congress got three and AIMIM bagged one seat in the 2019 general elections.

However, this time, Telangana is witnessing a three-cornered contest among the ruling Congress and opposition BRS and BJP.

Some keenly contested constituencies include Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Medak, Karimnagar, Khammam, Warangal and Nagarkurnool constituencies. As the ban on campaign came into force on Saturday, the candidates from various political parties opted to use social media to reach out to voters.

Under the pretext of encouraging citizens to vote and educating them on voting process, several candidates circulated images and video messages asking the voters to cast their votes for him/her on the Electronic Voting Machines.

Meanwhile, the political parties indugled in “poll management” in a bid to entice voters to cast votes for their respective candidates. Officials have seized over cash, freebies and other material worth Rs.360 crore in different parts of the State so far.