Hyderabad, Apr 10 : The stage is set for holding election to 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in Telangana on Thursday involving an electorate over 2.97 crore to decide the political fortunes of 443 candidates in the fray.
In all, 25 women candidates are trying their luck in tomorrow’s election for which elaborate arrangements have already been made in and around 34,604 polling stations all over the state.
Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency from where sitting MP and daughter of TRS Supremo and Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao ?K Kavitha-is seeking re-election has the highest number of 185 candidates, while Medak constituency has the lowest ten contestants.
Registered National and regional parties fielded have 61 candidates, other registered political parties fielded 83 while 299 independent candidates including 178 from Nizamabad constituency are in the fray.
Polling will commence at 0700 hours and conclude at 1700 hours except in extremists affected areas located along Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra borders where the polling will end at 1600 hours.
The polling in Nizamabad constituency will take place from 8000 hours to 1800 hours as the mock polling is expected to take more time than other constituencies because of the large number of contestants.
About three lakh poll officials drawn from various departments besides 141 companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) were deployed at all the polling stations to ensure smooth and orderly voting.
The material and equipment which had already reached the polling stations to conduct the polling include more than 77,330 ballot units, over 41,000 control units and 43,894 voter verifiable paper audit trail machines.
The State police also made tight security arrangements to ensure that no untoward incidents take place during the polling.
