T’gana logs 64.20% polling on 17 Lok Sabha constituencies
Voting for all 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana concluded in a single phase on Monday with a provisional turnout of 64.20%, amid largely peaceful voting and poll boycott in a few villages, the Election Commission of India (ECI) authorities said
Voting for all 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana concluded in a single phase on Monday with a provisional turnout of 64.20%, amid largely peaceful voting and poll boycott in a few villages, the Election Commission of India (ECI) authorities said.
In Maoist-affected areas of Jayashankar Bhupalpally and Mulugu assembly segments in Warangal parliamentary constituency and Mahabubabad assembly segment in Mahabubabad parliamentary constituency, the polling concluded at 4 pm due to security reasons.
“However, those who were already in the queue lines in these districts, too, were allowed to vote beyond stipulated hours,” an official said.
The voting percentage in Telangana this time has already surpassed the figures of 2019 general elections when it was 62.77. “We have got very good response right from morning. Weather was also supportive. So we had good turnout. There was no problem on law order side also,” chief electoral officer Vikas Raj said.
Of the 17 parliamentary constituencies, Zahirabad recorded the highest 75.19% polling while Hyderabad logged the lowest turnout at 45.07%, according to ECI figures uploaded on its voter turnout app.
Meanwhile, voters in a few villages boycotted the polling completely in protest against certain government’s decisions. In Balmoor village of Nagarkurnool district, the villagers boycotted the polling demanding cancellation of permission given to limestone mining.
In Rayamadaram village of Enkur block in Khammam, the voters did not turn up to the polling station in protest against the government’s apathy in building a bridge of Nagarjuna Sagar project canal. Similar boycott of polling was reported from Kanumukkala village of Pochampally block in Yadadri Bhongir district and Allampalli village of Kadem block in Nirmal district demanding solution to local problems.
The CEO said no untoward incident was reported from any part of Telangana and there were no law-and-order issues anywhere. In Hyderabad, the BJP alleged that the workers of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) whose president Asaduddin Owaisi, tried to rig the polling at Jamal Colony and Riyasat Nagar.
The Lok Sabha elections in Telangana is witnessing a triangular contest among the ruling Congress, opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), and BJP, with a total of 525 candidates in the fray.
Meanwhile, polling was also held for the by-elections to the Secunderabad Cantonment assembly seat, which has fallen vacant due to the sudden death of sitting BRS MLA G Lasya Nandita on February 23.
