HYDERABAD: The State Election Commission (SEC) and GHMC have started making elaborate arrangements for the polling to be held in 150 wards of the corporation on Tuesday. Polling will commence on Tuesday at 7 am. and continue up to 6 pm.
In view of Covid-19, sanitising hands will be mandatory at every polling station. Markings will be made on premises of the polling station to ensure social distancing within queues.
If required, voters will be asked to lower their facemask for identification. At any given time, only one voter will be allowed to stand in front of each polling official while ensuring social distance.
The SEC has released a set of identity documents that will be accepted as ID proof in case a voter does not have the voter ID card.
In all, there are as many as 1,122 candidates in fray, including from major political parties. There are 74,67,256 people eligible to cast their vote at one of the 9,101 polling stations situated in 2,927 locations spread all over the twin cities and its environs. Supervising the polls will be a whopping 36,404 polling personnel.
Poll authorities will deploy 702 50-seater RTC buses, 48 goods vehicles, 445 four wheelers, 16 tempos and 1,460 mini-buses on the polling day. These vehicles will travel along 611 routes. There will be 18,202 ballot boxes in which voters will cast their votes on Tuesday.
Authorities have received 2,629 applications for postal ballots, 1,540 online and 1,089 offline. After verification, they have issued 1,926 postal ballots of which 1,009 will be online and 917 offline.
Voters coming to polling stations will have to invariably wear masks. They will not be allowed into the polling station without the mask. No voter will be allowed to carry his or her cell phone or any other electronic gadget into the polling station.
Voter slips are being distributed to all electors by booth level officers (BLOs). However, if any elector has not received his or her voter slip, she or he can download it through GHMC App / tsec.gov.in / ghmc.gov.in.
Info points:
No. of DRC Centres: 30 (one per Circle)
Total Voters: 74,67,256
Men: 38,89,637
Women: 35,76,941
Others: 678
No. of Flying Squads: 60 (two per circle)
No. of Static Surveillance Teams: 30 (one per circle)
No. of Polling Personnel: 36,404 (with sufficient reserves)
Polling Officers (POs): 9,101
APOs: 9,101
OPOs: 18,202
No. of Returning Officers: 150
No. of Assistant Returning Officers: 150
No. of General Observers: 12
No. of Expenditure Observers: 30
Party Affiliation No. of Candidates
BJP 149
CPI 17
CPI (M) 12
INC 146
TRS 150
AIMIM 51
TDP 106
Other States &
Registered parties 76
Independents 415
Total 1,122
GHMC has listed several documents that may be carried in lieu the Electoral Photo Identity Card as ID proof while voting. They Include:
- Aadhaar Card
- Passport
- Driving License
- Service Identity Cards with photograph issued to its employees by state / central governments, public sector undertakings, local bodies or public limited companies
- Passbooks with photographs issued by Public Sector Banks TSCOB / DCCBs / post offices
- Income Tax Identity Card (PAN Card)
- Smart Cards issued by the RGI under the scheme of National Population Register (NPR)
- MNREGA Job Card (issued on or before the date of election notification)
- Health Insurance Smart Card issued under the scheme of Ministry of Labour (issued on or before the date of election notification)
- Pension document with photograph, such as ex-servicemen pension book / pension payment order, ex-service person's spouse / dependent certificates, old age pension order, widow pension order with photograph (issued on or before the date of election notification)
- Identity cards with photographs issued by the secretariat of the Legislative Assembly / Legislative Council to MLAs / MLCs
- Ration Cards with photographs (issued on or before the date of election notification)
- SC / ST / BC certificates issued by the competent authority with photographs (issued on or before the date of election notification)
- Freedom Fighter Identity Cards with photographs
- Arms Licenses with photographs (issued on or before the date of election notification)
- Certificate of any physical handicap with photograph (issued by competent authority on or before the date of election notification)
- Identity cards with photographs issued by secretariat of Lok Sabha / Rajya Sabha to Members of Parliament
- Pattadar passbooks containing photographs (issued on or before the date of election notification)
