Hyderabad, Nov 11 (IANS) About 9.2 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the first two hours in the byelection for Jubilee Hills Assembly constituency in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Polling began at 7 a.m. at all 407 polling stations in the constituency. According to the Election Commission, 9.2 per cent of votes were cast till 9 a.m.

Moderate polling was seen in initial overs in the constituency, which covers posh Jubilee Hills and several middle-class and weaker section colonies and slums in the heart of the city.

A little over four lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the byelection, which is necessitated by the death of sitting MLA Maganti Gopinath of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).

A total of 58 candidates are in the fray, but the main contest is between the ruling Congress party and the opposition BRS and BJP.

The BRS has fielded Gopinath’s wife, Sunitha, while Naveen Yadav has entered the fray on a Congress ticket. The BJP has once again fielded Lankala Deepak Reddy.

Sunitha was among the first voters to cast her vote at Yellareddyguda Srinagar colony. She appealed to all voters to exercise their franchise.

Congress and BJP candidates also cast their votes. They appealed to all voters to cast their votes.

District Election Officer R.V. Karnan visited a polling centre at Borabanda to see the polling process.

He said there were some technical issues with the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) at 11 places, and the same were rectified.

Chief Electoral Officer C. Sudharshan Reddy said the polling process would continue till 6 p.m. and the voters standing in queues at polling centres at 6 p.m. would be allowed to cast their votes.

The Election Commission had made elaborate arrangements to ensure smooth, free and fair polling.

For the first time, drones have been deployed for surveillance at all polling stations. As many as 139 drones have been deployed for centralised aerial monitoring and real-time situation analysis, the CEO said.

The drones will help closely monitor the polling process at 407 polling stations located in 139 buildings. The real-time surveillance will provide a bird’s-eye view of the polling stations and help the poll authorities in identifying any disturbances quickly.

A control room has been set up at the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) head office to monitor drone usage.

Hyderabad District Election Officer R.V. Karnan said live webcasting has been arranged from all polling stations for peaceful polling and maintaining law and order.

As many as 226 of the 407 polling stations in 65 locations have been identified as critical polling stations, where paramilitary forces have been deployed.

A total of 2,060 polling personnel will be on duty. They include 515 polling officers and an equal number of assistant polling officers.

Keeping in view the large number of contesting candidates, Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) consisting of one Control Unit (CU), four Ballot Units (BUs) and one VVPAT have been provided to all polling stations. A total of 561 CUs, 2,394 BUs and 595 VVPATs were deployed.

Mobile counters were opened at all polling stations to facilitate voters to deposit their mobile phones before entering into polling stations and take them back after casting their vote.

According to Hyderabad Joint Commissioner of Police Tafseer Iqbal, 1,761 police personnel have been deployed.

Personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were deployed in 68 Polling Station locations.

The are a total of 4,01,365 voters in the constituency comprising 2,08,561 males, 1,92,779 females and 25 others.

According to DEO, there are 6,859 voters in the age group of 18-19 years, while 2,134 voters are above 85 years. He said 103 absentee voters (above 85 years and PwD voters) have exercised their option for a postal ballot, and out of these, 101 have utilised the postal ballot voting.

–IANS

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