Hyderabad, Nov 11 (IANS) About 40.20 per cent electors cast their votes till 3 p.m. in the by-election for Jubilee Hills Assembly constituency in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Barring minor incidents, the polling remained peaceful, Election Commission officials said.

Polling began at 7 a.m. at all 407 polling stations in the constituency.

Moderate polling was observed in the constituency, which encompasses posh Jubilee Hills and several middle-class and lower-income section colonies and slums in the heart of the city.

The final polling percentage is likely to be higher than the 47.58 per cent recorded in the 2023 Assembly elections.

Little over 4 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the by-election, 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 the Congress ticket. The BJP has once again fielded Lankala Deepak Reddy.

They were among the early voters to exercise their franchise. They appealed to all the electors to cast their votes.

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

He said cases would be registered against non-local public representatives who violated the Model Code of Conduct.

BRS had complained that legislators belonging to the ruling party were seen near polling stations. BRS candidate Sunitha alleged rigging by the ruling party.

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.

For the first time, drones have been deployed for surveillance at all polling stations. As many as 150 drones have been deployed for centralised aerial monitoring and real-time situation analysis.

The drones will help to 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.

Hyderabad Police Commissioner V. C. Sajjanar monitored the polling process through drones from the Integrated Police Command and Control Centre. He said the polling was underway in a peaceful manner.

Live webcasting was also 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.

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

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 postal ballot, and out of them 101 have utilised the postal ballot voting.

–IANS

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