Good turnout in Huzurabad interiors

KARIMNAGAR: There was a huge response from youth, women and elderly persons, who turned up at their respective polling booths quite early, to exercise their franchise in the by-elections to Huzurabad Assembly seat on Saturday.

Excitement was visible on first-time voters and everyone followed Covid-19 guidelines. As it is the harvesting season, farmers thronged polling stations in the first session, so that they could go to their fields early.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission made elaborate arrangements for a smooth polling. Having identified 127 high-risk polling stations, poll panel officials beefed up security arrangements, and put in place Sec 144. Drone cameras and webcasting were part of the surveillance process.

District collectors R.V. Karnan and Rajiv Gandhi Hanumanthu along with police commissioners V. Satyanarayana and Tarun Joshi inspected various polling stations and monitored the polling process.

EVM did not work for over 90 minutes at polling station No. 224 in Ellanthakunta mandal. Voters slammed officials for arranging a damaged EVM, which was subsequently replaced.

In Uppal village of Kamalapur mandal, when the EVM did not work for a few minutes, a technical team rushed to the village and repaired the machine.