Telangana Polling Ends, 67% Voter Turnout in 119 Constituencies

India’s youngest state, Telangana, went to polls on Friday, 7 December, to constitute its second Legislative Assembly. The state recorded 67 percent voter turnout, said the Election Commission.

Stay tuned for The Quint’s coverage on the exit polls.

A united Andhra Pradesh has voted for both state Assembly and the Lok Sabha at the same time — from 1999 till 2014. However, since August 2018, media reports suggested that KCR was getting ‘battle-ready’ to dissolve the Assembly and go to polls in winter 2018, along with Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram.

KCR dissolved the Telangana Assembly on 6 September, his supposed ‘lucky’ date.

Hours after dissolving the Assembly, he released a list of 105 candidates who will fight the elections from Husnabad, the very place he launched his 2014 campaign.

The main contenders for this election remain to be the KCR-led TRS, which was in power for the last four years, and the Congress-led 'Mahakutami' (or 'Grand Alliance'), which included the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) among many others.

The BJP, although not a main contender, is expected to swing some percentage of vote share its way. In all, there are now as many as nine political parties vying for power in the state.

The Aaj Tak-India Today survey predicts a massive victory for the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), with 43 percent voters predicted to cast their ballot for the KCR party. The Congress, on the other hand, is expected to garner 18 percent of vote share.

Interestingly, 11 percent of those surveyed wanted KCR to be the next prime minister, while 44 percent voted for PM Narendra Modi and 39 percent for Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

Another survey conducted by VDP Associates, claims that the TRS is all set to win at least 80 seats, while the Congress is expected to win around 20 seats. The survey predicts that the BJP will win seven seats, with the AIMIM getting eight.

According to the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), there are 438 crorepati candidates and 368 candidates with criminal cases pending against them.

Voting in India’s youngest state, Telangana, has started.

Polling will be held from 7 am to 5 pm in 106 constituencies, while in 13 Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected constituencies, the polling will conclude at 4 pm.

BJP President Amit Shah took to Twitter to urge the voters of Telangana to come out and vote in “large numbers”.

Around 2.61 crore voters will decide the fate of 1,821 candidates in the first election after Telangana was formed.

Voting is yet to begin at a polling station in GHMC Indoor Stadium, Amberpet due to a technical problem, reported ANI.

State Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao casts his vote in Siddipet constituency. Rao is the nephew of TRS chief and caretaker Chief Minister KCR.

Rao representa the Siddipet Assembly constituency which is considered a TRS stronghold.

A senior police official told news agency PTI that security was beefed up at bordering areas which were identified as Left Wing Extremist-affected regions.

The Assembly polls in Telangana were originally scheduled to be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections next year, but the House was dissolved prematurely on 6 September as per a recommendation by the state cabinet.

The Congress has stitched together the 'Prajakutami' (People's Front) along with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS) and the Communist Party of India (CPI), to take on the ruling TRS, which is led by caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR).

The TRS, seeking a second term in office, is going alone, as also the BJP.

It is to be seen if TRS president and Caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's gamble to opt for early elections pays off.

Read all you want to know about Telangana elections here.

Huge sums of unaccounted cash and illegal liquor and other goods were seized since the Model Code of Conduct came into effect on 27 September.

The total seizures stood at nearly Rs 135 crore, including unaccounted cash, illegal liquor and other goods, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Rajat Kumar said on Thursday, 6 December, adding that the total seizures were 90 percent more than that of the 2014 polls.

Additional DG (Law and order) Jitender told PTI that about one lakh security personnel, including 25,000 central paramilitary forces and 20,000 from other states, are engaged in poll duties.

More than 1.50 lakh polling officials, including reserve staff, are on duty.

BJP Telangana President G Kishan Reddy casts his vote at polling booth number 7 in Kachiguda, Hyderabad.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu urged people to cast their votes.

The voter turnout in Telangana stood at 8.97 percent till 9 am, reported ANI.

AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi casts his vote at polling booth number 317 at Mailardevpally, Shastripuram.

TRS MP K Kavitha stands in a queue to cast her vote at polling booth number 177 in Pothangal, Nizamabad.

The Andhra Pradesh government has declared a holiday for the secretariat employees and the Heads of Departments (HoD) who had shifted from Hyderabad to Amaravati. According to the Hindustan Times, nearly 3,000 employees are likely to cast their votes.

Voting turnout recorded till 9.30 am in Telangana is 10.15 percent.

Badminton player Jwala Gutta took to Twitter to say that her name has "disappeared" from the voters' list even though she had checked it online.

According to a report in The New Indian Express, Hyderabad District Election Officer, M Dana Kishore said, that if a Rohingya refugees marked in the Absent, Shifted and Deleted (ASD) list comes to vote then they will be taken into custody.

A list of Rohingyas who have obtained ID cards fraudulently has been obtained.

Congress National Secretary and Spokesperson Madhu Yaskhi's convoy was allegedly attacked by a group of people near Metpally town on Thursday, 6 December, according to The News Minute.

He was on his way to Nizamabad, where he will cast his vote in the state Assembly elections, that are underway across 119 constituencies of Telangana. The glass panes of the Congress leader’s vehicles were shattered in the attack.

Telangana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Rajath Kumar told news agency IANS that polling has been peaceful and smooth so far.

However, voting had begun late in some booths due to technical glitches in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Senior Congress leader Randeep Surjewala took to Twitter and said, “The youngest state of India, Telangana has lost four precious years due to Corruption, Commission & Coterie Raj.”

Congress candidate Ch Vamshichand Reddy from Kalwakurthy Assembly constituency was reportedly attacked by BJP cadre in Amangal mandal of Nagarkurnool district.

However, BJP responded to the allegation and said that “Congress is playing victim games sensing disastrous defeat.”

Telangana Chief Secretary SK Joshi casts his vote.

A youth was arrested for taking selfie while casting his vote in Telangana Assembly elections, reported news agency IANS.

The voter, identified as Shiv Shankar, was arrested by the police on a complaint by polling official at a polling centre in Rajendranagar constituency in Greater Hyderabad.

Officials said the youth was arrested under Representation of People's Act for violating secrecy of voting.

Speaking to the media after casting his vote in Hyderabad, TRS leader KT Rama Rao said, “In a democracy where politics decides the future, we have to decide what kind of future politics we want. I hope the people of Telangana come out and vote in large numbers.”

Ater badminton player Jwala Gutta tweeted that she couldn’t cast her vote as her name was missing from the voter’s list, Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia hit out at the Election Commission of India demanding answers.

Speaking to the media after casting his vote from his native village Chinthamadaka in Siddipet district of Telangana, TRS supremo and Telangana caretaker Chief Minister K Chandhrasekhar Rao said, “This is the second or the third time in the state that an incumbent party will come to power with a huge majority, without any doubt.”

As the election caravan rolls into Telangana for Assembly polls on 7 December, all eyes will be on the state election commission’s final electoral roll on 19 November.

Primary among the concerns raised to the Election Commission of India and Telangana’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), is the issue of nearly 30 lakh deleted voters from the state’s 2018 electoral roll.

Read the full story here.

Angry voters protest outside a polling station in Chandrayangutta in Hyderabad alleging that their names are missing from the voting list.

With hundreds of people from Hyderabad heading to their native places to cast their votes in the Telangana Assembly elections on Friday, the state government decided to exempt them from toll tax.

Chief Secretary SK Joshi issued orders to this effect following a request from Chief Electoral Officer Rajath Kumar.

The poll official told reporters that in view of the reports of long traffic jams at toll plazas, he requested the Chief Secretary to waive the toll tax to enable people to reach their villages faster.

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Friday, 7 December, urged the people of Telangana to cast their votes for ‘Prajakutami’ alliance.

“You have been betrayed by those in power in Hyderabad. Now is the time, wherever you are in Telangana, I appeal to you to vote for Prajakutami,” Gandhi said.

Election Commission revises a voter turnout, 43.24 percent votes has been recorded till 1pm across Telangana.

Voter turnout recorded till 3 PM in Telangana Elections 2018 is 56.17 percent, reported ANI, quoting Election Commission.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi warned party workers to be “vigilant” after the polling closes in Rajasthan and Telangana on Friday evening.

“In MP, EVM's behaved strangely after polling. Some stole a van and vanished for two days! Others slipped away and were found drinking in a hotel,” Gandhi tweeted.

BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi demanded that the Election Commission take action against Congress President Rahul Gandhi for his interview to a Hyderabad newspaper on 6 December.

Chief Electoral Officer of Telangana Rajat Kumar, speaking about shuttler Jwala Gutta’s name missing from voter list, said that he “empathized” with her and that they will rectify the situation soon.