"Strengthen our democracy": BJP's Arvind Dharmapuri urges Telangana people to cast votes

Speaking to ANI, the BJP leader urged people to participate in voting in maximum numbers and further strengthen our democracy.

"All of my brothers and sisters of Nizamabad constituency, please step out and participate in voting in maximum number and further strengthen our democracy," Dharmapuri said.

Dharmapuri has been fielded for the Korutla Assembly constituency.

BRS has named Kalvakuntla Sanjay and Congress has fielded Narsinga Rao Juvvadi.

In Nizamabad Urban, BRS has fielded Goverdhan Bajireddy against Bhoopathi Reddy Rekulapally (Congress) and Dinesh Kumar Kulachari of the BJP.

Polling for the 119 Assembly constituencies in Telangana began on Thursday morning. As many as 2,290 candidates from 109 national and regional parties including 221 women and one transgender are in the fray.

Voters are exercising their franchise at 35,655 polling stations set up across the state. 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.

The high-stakes Telangana Assembly elections witnessed a triangular contest involving the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Congress.

Incumbent Chief Minister and the founder of BRS, K Chandrashekar Rao, or KCR, is contesting from two seats: his original seat, Gajwel, and Kamareddy. In the 2018 elections, KCR secured a victory in Gajwel by over 58,000 votes. This time, he faces BJP leader Etela Rajender in Gajwel and Congress state unit chief Revanth Reddy in Kamareddy.

In the first assembly polls in 2014 for the newly created state of Telangana, the Congress got 25.20 per cent votes and BRS (then TRS) got 34 per cent in the Telangana area.

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)