Huzurabad witnesses record 86.33 per cent turnout

HYDERABAD/KARIMNAGAR: The Huzurabad Assembly byelection on Saturday witnessed record polling at 86.33 per cent till 7 pm. The percentage is expected to increase as voters were still standing in queues at some polling booths to cast their ballots when polling closed at 7 pm.

The percentage surpassed the previous high of 84.4 per cent recorded in the 2018 December Assembly polls. A massive turnout was witnessed at all polling booths right from the morning, reflecting the political heat the bypoll has generated due to the tug of war between the TRS and the BJP although a total of 30 candidates were in the fray.

Counting of votes will take place on November 2 and the complete results will be out by 4 pm on the same day.

Barring a few sporadic incidents of clashes between the TRS and the BJP activists over the issue of alleged distribution of money to voters near polling booths, the polling process went off peacefully.

TRS candidate Gellu Srinivas Yadav cast his vote at a polling station in Himmatnagar of Veenavanka mandal while BJP candidate Etala Rajendar exercised his voting right at a polling booth in Kandula village of Huzurabad mandal.

The polling process in five mandals of the Huzurabad constituency started at 7 am in all the 306 polling stations, except in one or two polling stations where the EVMs did not work. But the technical team repaired the machines immediately and replaced the non-functional EVMs with new ones.

The officials of EC released the percentage of polling for every two hours except in the last session which took place from 5 in the evening to 7 pm.

The polling which started slowly in the first session by recording 10.50 per cent of polling by 9 am picked up pace in later sessions. By 11 am, the polling was recorded at 33.27 per cent and by 1 pm it went up to 45.63 per cent.

In the afternoon, with the arrival of local people who resided in other districts for various reasons, the polling percentage increased from 45.63 per cent to 86.33 per cent from 1 pm to 7 pm.

By 3 pm, the polling was recorded at 61.66 per cent and by the evening by 5 it was recorded at 76.26 per cent and in the final session, the polling was recorded at 86.33 per cent.

Officials sealed the EVMs in front of the polling agents of various political parties and shifted them to strongrooms which were established at SRR Degree and PG College situated in Karimnagar city.