36.68 percent voter turnout recorded in Telangana till 1 PM

Hyderabad: An estimated 36.68 percent of the over 3.26 crore electorate have exercised their franchise in the Telangana Assembly election till 1 PM on Thursday.

Voters queued up in the polling booths across the state to exercise their franchise, amid tight security.

The voting, which commenced at 0700 hours, is scheduled to conclude at 5 PM in 106 constituecies while in 13 Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected constituencies it will end at 4 PM.

The 13 constituencies are Sirpur, Chennur, Bellampalli, Mancherial, Asifabad, Manthani, Bhupalapally, Mulugu, Pinapaka, Yellandu, Kothagudem, Aswaraopet, and Bhadrachalam.

Union Minister and Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy wrote to the Election Commission of India and the Chief Electoral Officer of the state alleging ‘electoral malpractices’ by BRS candidates and their workers.

Reports said Tension prevailed at Booth number 244 in Jangaon constituency, when the BRS-Congress-BJP clashed. Police had to resort to cane charge to disperse the cadres.

In Bodhan Town in Nizamabad district, BRS and Congress leaders clashed prompting police intervention. In Khanapur village in Ibrahmipatnam constituency, police lathicharged the clashing BRS and Congress workers. Some party workers were detained and whisked away.

The voting process was halted for almost 45 minutes at Booth No 253, R&B Building in Kamareddy Assembly constituency due to a malfunction of the EVM here at around 8 am.

However, the voting started after 45 minutes after the EVM was changed, Official sources said.

As many as 2,290 candidates are in the fray and testing their luck in the hustings.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, Ministers, leaders from various political parties, and bureaucrats, along with their families, were among those who exercised their franchise.Notable film personalities, including megastar Chiranjeevi, also cast his vote in Hyderabad.

The BRS has fielded candidates in all 119 seats. While, as per the seat-sharing agreement, BJP and actor Pawan Kalyan-headed Jana Sena Party are contesting in 111 and eight seats respectively, while Congress has given one seat to its ally CPI, and fighting from 118 others.

In 2018, the BRS won 88 of the 119 seats while the Congress came in a distant second with just 19 seats. The BJP won only one seat.

The counting of votes will be taken up on December 3, along with Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Mizoram.