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As the countdown began to the Telangana Assembly elections on Thursday, polling paraphernalia was distributed to officials in the Nizamabad Urban Assembly constituency on Wednesday.
The southern state will poll for the Assembly in a single phase on Friday and the votes will be counted on December 3. Speaking to ANI on Thursday, the returning officer for Nizamabad Urban constituency said the process of distribution of polling materials to the designated polling stations will be completed around 10.30 pm. According to the officials, as many as 289 polling stations have been put together in the Nizamabad Urban Assembly constituency, covering 29 sectors. "Each sector has about 9-12 polling stations. They are all located in urban premises and have magisterial powers. It will take a maximum of 20-25 minutes to reach any polling stations from these premises. So, should any issue arise during the polling tomorrow, the sector officer will be at hand to address the problem in the quickest possible time and ensure the resumption of the polling process," the returning officer told ANI. Meanwhile, In the Hanumakonda district of the state, almost 2,500 polling personnel have reported for duty, Sikta Patnaik, the district collector, informed ANI on Thursday. "We have made all the requisite polling arrangements for two Assembly constituencies in the Hanumakonda district. Nearly 2,500 polling personnel have already reported for duty and food and other arrangements have been made for them," the district collector said. She informed further that at all polling stations, there will be location officers, who would help the polling officials settle down and focus on their jobs. "The polling process will begin at 7 am tomorrow," the district collector informed. Home voting for citizens aged over 80 years and persons with disabilities has also been made available, with about 26,600 voters enlisted to avail of the service on Thursday. About 1,000 other voters have also registered for the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System. In view of the state election, all educational institutions in the Hyderabad district were closed on Wednesday and will remain closed on November 30, the polling day. The schools and colleges will reopen on December 1, officials informed. The state is likely to witness a three-cornered contest this time between the ruling BRS, which is bidding to return to the hustings for a third straight term, the Congress, and a resurgent BJP. In 2018, BRS (then Telangana Rashtra Samithi) won 88 of the 119 seats and had 47.4 per cent of the vote share. The Congress came a distant second with just 19 seats. (ANI)
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