The reduced poll percentage in Medak Lok Sabha may affect the winning margin
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao casts his vote at a polling booth in his native village Chintamadaka of Siddipet Assembly segment on Saturday. (Photo: DC/File)
Hyderabad: Polling for the Medak Lok Sabha in Telangana state and Nandigama Assembly segment in Andhra Pradesh went off peacefully on Saturday with around 68 per cent of electorate exercising their franchise by 6 pm, which is likely to increase to 70 per cent.
Counting of votes will be taken up on September 16 and results will be declared the same afternoon, said Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwarlal. Bypoll to the Medak Lok Sabha segment was due to the resignation of the Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who won with a record margin of 3.97 lakh votes, was different.
Though the poll percentage was still less than the 77.5 per cent recorded in the general elections, the TRS strongholds like Gajwel, Siddipet, Dubbaka, Medak recorded good turnout whereas Patancheru and Sangareddy recorded much less.
The reduced poll percentage in Medak Lok Sabha may affect the winning margin of TRS candidate Kotha Prabhakara Reddy and might be lesser than the TRS expectation of 5 lakh.
The Chief Minister along with wife Sobha exercised their vote in his native village Chintamadaka of Siddipet Assembly segment, on his first visit to his village after becoming Chief Minister.
According to official estimates, Nandigama recorded 68.5 per cent polling by evening, and likely to go up to 70 percent, which is still 15 per cent less than the 85 per cent polling recorded in the general elections in May last year.
The bypoll was nec-essitated due to the death of Telugu De-sam MLA Tangirala Prabhakar Rao, but voters did not evince much interest due to YSRC abstaining from contesting in the byelection and also due to sympathy for TD candidate Sowmya who is predicted to win with a record margin.
Villagers and TRS cadre showered rose petals on the first couple who visited their house in the village and toured the village for some time before returning to Hyderabad.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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