Section 144 in Place as Jubilee Hills By-Poll Counting Set for 8 AM on Friday

Hyderabad: The vote counting for the Jubilee Hills Assembly by-election is set to begin at 8 a.m. on Friday at the Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy Indoor Stadium in Yousufguda. District Election Officer R.V. Karnan, accompanied by Hyderabad Joint Police Commissioner Tafseer Iqbal, reviewed the preparations and briefed the media on the arrangements in place.

Karnan said the counting would start with postal ballots, after which the EVM votes would be taken up. “This time, we have obtained special permission from the Election Commission of India to set up 42 counting tables, considering the unusually high number of candidates—58 in total,” he explained. Around 186 staff members have been deployed for the counting process. Real-time updates will be displayed on an LED screen at the venue and made available via the ECI mobile app. Only candidates and their authorised agents will be permitted inside.

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Joint Commissioner Tafseer Iqbal stated that Section 144 is already in force in the area. He clarified that no permissions were granted for victory rallies by any candidate, party leader, or supporters. “Adequate security has been put in place to ensure the counting process is conducted smoothly and without any disturbances,” he said.

Ahead of counting day, the District Election Officer and the Election Observer inspected the entire stadium layout, including the barricading, EVM storage area, and table arrangements for party agents.

According to official figures, the Jubilee Hills constituency recorded a total of 4,01,365 registered voters—2,08,561 males, 1,92,779 females, and 25 others. Of these, 1,94,631 votes were polled, marking a turnout of 48.49 percent. The counting will be conducted across 10 rounds at 42 tables.