Telangana civic elections: Voting under way

HYDERABAD: The polling for 120 municipalities and nine municipal corporations began 7am on Wednesday.
Seven months after the zilla parishad elections, the civic body poll is being held.
The polling is being held in 120 municipalities and nine municipal corporations with over 50 lakh voters set to decide the fate of TRS, Congress and BJP candidates. While TRS swept the local body elections (gram panchayat and zilla parishad polls held in January and May 2019 respectively), Congress and BJP are betting it big on getting a majority in the urban local body elections.
Polling began at 7 am and it will conclude at 5 pm in 7,961 polling stations.Of the total 2,971 wards in the municipalities and corporations, elections to 83 wards were unanimous. In the rest, 12,926 candidates are in the fray. State election commissioner V Nagi Reddy told media here on Tuesday that elaborate arrangements have been made with 55,000 staff drafted for the smooth conduct of the elections. If any malpractices are found in polling or tender votes were reported, SEC would order a re-polling, he said.

“If any candidate is found distributing money or liquor to voters or fails to submit election expenditure, he or she will be disqualified even after the election,” Nagi Reddy warned. He urged voters to videograph any incident of distribution of money and liquor to lure voters which, he said, would help the commission initiate an immediate action. “If there is conclusive evidence, candidates will be arrested immediately,” he said. The commissioner said for smooth and fair elections, video coverage and webcasting would be done in over 6,500 poll booths.