A voter turnout of 61.54 per cent was registered in the election to 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in Telangana on Monday, which went off peacefully.
The polling was held from 7 AM to 6 PM, except Left Wing Extremism-affected constituencies where the process concluded by 4 PM.
The polling process in Telangana was peaceful, DGP Ravi Gupta said in a release. Notably, polling in Naxal-affected areas concluded without any incident by 4 pm, he said.
State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vikas Raj said the response from voters was good.
“We have got very good response right from morning. Weather was also supportive. So we had good turnout. There was no problem on law order side also,” Vikas Raj told reporters.
Out of the total 35,809 polling stations, voting was going on in about 1,400 booths at 6 PM.
The final polling percentage would be known after tabulation on Tuesday, the CEO said.
The approximate voter turnout in the state was 62 per cent, according to an Election Commission app on voter turnout.
While Zahirabad Lok Sabha constituency witnessed the highest poll percentage (as per provisonal data) of 72.48 per cent, the lowest poll percentage of 39.17 was seen in Hyderabad parliamentary constituency.
The CEO also said 38 FIRs were filed today for various reasons.
However, the BJP is winning in the Hyderabad parliamentary seat, she asserted. Former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, his Tripura counterpart N Indrasena Reddy, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy,
Union Minister and Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy, former CM K Chandrasekhar Rao and AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi were among senior leaders who cast their vote in Telangana.
Several film personalities, including Chiranjeevi, Mahesh Babu, Ram Charan, Allu Arjun, Junior NTR and ace director SS Rajamouli of ‘RRR’ fame, also exercised their franchise here.
Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, who cast his vote in his Assembly constituency of Kodangal in Vikarabad district, alleged that the BJP is trying to “polarise Muslim votes to make (AIMIM’s) Asaduddin Owaisi win”.
He also alleged that the BJP is misusing central agencies for electoral benefit. On the case registered by Delhi police in connection with a doctored video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah on social media, he wondered how the Delhi police could issue notices to him when he was not aware of its content.
Referring to leaders, including Ajit Pawar, Kumaraswamy and others of JD(S) joining hands with BJP, he claimed that PM Modi does not have the moral right to talk about corruption.
Referring to Modi’s allegation that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was not talking about ‘Adani-Ambani’, he said the PM can send ED, IT and CBI to “raid Adani-Ambani residence and office places”.
“When they are sending truck loads of money to the Congress party, why are you not taking action against Adani – Ambani?” he asked.
The BJP complained to the Chief Electoral Officer alleging that Revanth Reddy conducted a press conference after casting his vote and levelled certain allegations against the saffron party in violation of the Model Code of Conduct.
Addressing reporters, Kishan Reddy said the BJP has received positive response from people in the Lok Sabha polls.
Though voter turnout was low in urban areas, the votes polled were in favour of BJP, he claimed.
There were several reasons for the low voting, including many voters going to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, he added.
Meanwhile, polling was also held in Secunderabad Cantonment assembly constituency here.
