Voting for the Telangana Assembly elections 2023 is underway for all 119 Assembly seats today (November 30). On December 3, there will be a vote count. The voting begins at 7 am. All Hyderabad district educational institutions were closed on Wednesday and will remain closed on November 30.
A total of 3.17 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to elect legislators for a 119-member Assembly. A total of 2,290 candidates from 109 parties including the national and regional parties are in the fray. The contestants include 221 women and one transgender.
A total of 103 legislators are re-contesting this time, most of them from the ruling BRS.K Chandrashekar Rao is contesting from two seats -- his original seat Gajwel and Kamareddy. While he is facing BJP leader Etela Rajender in Gajewal, Congress state unit chief Revanth Reddy is taking him on in Kamareddy. Apart from squaring off with KCR, both Etela and Revanth Reddy are also contesting from two seats, with the BJP leader from Huzurabad and the Congress' best bet Reddy from Kodangal.
Over 2.5 lakh employees will be engaged in the polls duties for the Assembly elections. In Telangana, voters over 80 years old and those with impairments were given the opportunity to vote from home for the first time. All private businesses, including IT companies, have been directed by the EC to declare a holiday on November 30 to enable employees to exercise their franchise.
(with inputs from ANI)
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51.89 % voter turnout was recorded till 3 pm on Thursday.
Actor Brahmanandam leaves a polling station in Hyderabad after casting his vote.
Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha casted her vote for Telangana assembly polls on Thursday morning and appealed to the 'urban voters' to exercise their franchise. She casted her vote at a polling station in Dav Public School in the Banjara Hills area of Hyderabad today.
Jubilee Hills Congress candidate Mohammad Azharuddin on Thursday cast his vote as the polling for the 119 assembly seat began at 7 am. After exercising his franchise, the former cricketer urged the people of the state to cast their vote. "It is important to vote. If you don't vote, then you don't have any right to question..." Azharuddin said, while speaking to ANI. The former India cricket captain is contesting from the Jubilee Hills Assembly seat.
Actor Jr NTR arrived with his family to cast their votes at the polling booth in P Obul Reddy Public School in Hyderabad. The actor can be seen standing in the queue with his wife and mother to cast his vote.
Actor Allu Arjun showed his voting finger to the media while he left the polling booth in Hyderabad's Jubilee Hills area after casting his vote for the Telangana Assembly elections. Polling began amid elaborate arrangements in all 119 Assembly constituencies in Telangana on Thursday morning.
Megastar Chiranjeevi arrived with his family to cast their votes at the polling booth in Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad on Thursday. He could be seen standing with his wife Surekha Konidala and daughter Sreeja Konidela polling in the queue to cast their vote. The megastar has in the past been involved in politics.
A scuffle broke out between groups of workers of Congress, BJP and BRS at a polling station in Jangaon. The situation was brought under control with Police intervention.
Telangana recorded a voter turnout of 8.52 per cent till 9 am in the assembly polls that is currently underway for 119 seats, according to the Election Commission of India. As per the ECI, Adilabad recorded a voter turnout of 13.50 per cent, Bhadradri at 8.33 per cent, Hanumankonda at 6.89 per cent and Jagtial at 10.82 per cent.It further said that Jayashankar Bhupalpalle recorded 10.50 per cent of voter turnout, Jogulamba Gadwal at 12.02 per cent, Kamareddy at 9.98 per cent, Karimnagar recorded 8.21 per cent of voter turnout till 9 am.Polling for the 119 Assembly constituencies in Telangana began on Thursday morning.
(With inputs from ANI)
