LS polls counting: Arrangements in place for 17 constituencies in Telangana

Hyderabad: Necessary arrangements have been made for the counting of votes polled in the election to the 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in Telangana, with about 10,000 personnel geared up to take part in the exercise on Tuesday, officials said.

The counting of votes will begin from 8 am on Tuesday at 34 centres. The counting of postal ballots and votes cast in EVMs would start at 8 am in all constituencies.

Postal ballots would be counted in separate halls. A three-layer security cordon has been put in place and 12 companies of central forces have been deployed for strongroom security. The counting of votes polled in the bypoll held for Secunderabad Cantonment Assembly constituency would also begin at 8 am on June 4.

Polling for the 17 Lok Sabha seats and the Secunderabad Cantonment Assembly bypoll was held on May 13. Telangana had recorded 66.3 per cent per cent voter turnout for the Lok Sabha polls and the main contest is between the ruling Congress, the BRS and the BJP.

In the 2019 polls, the BRS won nine seats, while the BJP won four and Congress had bagged three and AIMIM one. Union Minister G Kishan Reddy, sitting MPs Bandi Sanjay and D Arvind are prominent candidates from the BJP.

The key contenders from Congress include former union minister Balram Naik, from BRS former IPS officer R S Praveen Kumar and from AIMIM its party chief Asaduddin Owaisi. Telangana Chief Minister and TPCC president A Revanth Reddy on Monday held a teleconference with the party’s contestants and gave them the necessary instructions with regard to the counting process.

According to Congress party sources, Revanth Reddy instructed the candidates to appoint sincere people as their counting agents at the centres. The bypoll for the Secunderabad Cantonment assembly constituency was necessitated due to the death of sitting BRS MLA G Lasya Nanditha in a road accident earlier this year.