Polling to 119 constituencies is underway in Telangana on Friday and will end at 5 pm except for 13 constituencies classified as Left-wing extremism affected where it will end at 4 pm. The fate of the 1,821 candidates, in the fray to contest the Assembly elections in the state, will be decided by 28 million eligible voters. Among those fighting polls, around 25 per cent candidates are crorepatis, while 21 per cent have criminal cases registered against them, according to a survey conducted by the Telangana Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
As many as 446 flying squads are in the state to swing into action if any irregularity is reported and 448 static surveillance teams will also keep a watch on the situation. They would wait in the wings to take action. Besides that, 224 video surveillance teams and 133 video-viewing teams have been pressed into service. There were 126 assistant expenditure observers and 123 accounting teams.
A total of 44,415 ballot units, 7,557 reserve ballot units, 32,016 control units, 4,432 reserve control units and 32,016 VVPATs and 5,261 reserve VVPATs are being used for the polling.
Read More | Telangana Assembly Elections 2018 LIVE: Voting begins in 119 seats
Telangana Assembly election, which was originally scheduled to be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections next year, will proof if KCR’s gamble to opt for early elections pays off.
Highlights:
3:00 pm: Voter turnout recorded till 3 pm is 56.17 per cent.
02.50 pm: UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi shares a message to the people of Telangana.
02.35 pm: Jwala Gutta: I checked my name online 2-3 weeks ago, my mother's&my names were there, my father's&my sister's were missing. Today we went to cast vote but my name was also missing. I don't understand how's my name missing. I've been living here for 12 years.
02.20 pm: Challa Vamshi Chand Reddy, Congress candidate from Kalwakurthy, Mahbubnagar was allegedly attacked by unknown miscreants earlier today. He was later shifted to Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) Hospital, Hyderabad and is out of danger now.
01.55 pm: A man was taken into custody after he allegedly took a selfie while casting his vote at a polling station in Rajendra Nagarm in Hyderabad on Friday, the police said. The voter identified as Shiv Shankar, clicked a selfie inside the polling booth this morning, following which a complaint was lodged by an election official and a case was registered, they said.
01.50 pm: Asaduddin Owaisi says AIMIM confident of winning all contested seats. "I am hopeful. I am fully confident that we will be successful in every seat. I hope people of Hyderabad, people of Telangana take this little difficulty, go out of homes and use their vote," he told reporters after casting his vote.
01.40 pm:49.15 per cent voter turnout recorded till 1 pm.
12.40 pm: Telangana DGP Mahender Reddy said polling is going on peacefully across the state.
12.30 pm: BJP MP Bandaru Dattatreya casts his vote at booth no.229 in Ramnagar of Musheerabad constituency in Hyderabad.
12.10 pm: Sania Mirza cast her vote at Film Nagar Cultural Center in Hyderabad.
11.32 am: "I think people will vote for their own state, I hope they turn out in large numbers," said the TRS leader KT Rama Rao after casting his votes at Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad.
11.30 am: TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu appealed to the people of Telangana to cast votes.
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10.03 am: Badminton player Jwala Gutta took to Twitter to say her name had disappeared from the voters' list after she checked it online.
09.56 am: TRS MP K Kavitha stands in a queue to cast her vote at polling booth no. 177 in Pothangal, Nizamabad.
09.53 am: Actor Chiranjeevi stands in a queue to cast his vote at polling booth no. 148 in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad.
09.48 am: Asaduddin Owaisi casts his vote at polling booth no. 317 at Mailardevpally, Shastripuram in Hyderabad.
09.20 am: Voter turnout 8.97 per cent till 9 am.
08.48 am: Deputy Chief Minister Kadiyan Srihari cast his vote in Warangal.
08.32 am: BJP's G Kishan Reddy casts his vote at polling booth no.7 in Kachiguda, Hyderabad.
08.18 am: Actor Allu Arjun stands in a queue to cast his vote at booth no. 152 in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad.
08.16 am: Actor Akkineni Nagarjuna and his wife & actor Amala Akkineni stand in a queue to cast their votes at booth no. 151 in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad.
07.47 am: State Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao casts his vote in polling booth no. 102 in Siddipet constituency.
07.29 am: People queue outside a polling station in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad to cast their votes.
07.25 am: I appeal to my sisters and brothers of Telangana to come out and vote in large numbers for an appeasement-free and development-oriented government. I specially urge my young friends to participate in this biggest festival of democracy without fail.
07.09 am: Nizamabad: People cast their votes at a polling station in Pothangal.
06.50 am: Voters form queues outside a polling station in Pothangal.
Voter turnout recorded till 3 PM in is 56.17%
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