67.46% voting recorded in Urban Local Bodies elections in Telangana till 3 pm

Polling began at 8 am and will continue till 5 pm. Apart from the ruling TRS, and main rival party Congress, BJP, TJS, CPI and TDP are all in the poll fray.

As voting for the nine municipal corporations and 120 municipalities draws to a close for today (January 22). Polling began at 8 am and will continue till 5 pm. So far, the average polling percentage for the total of 120 Municipalities and 9 Municipal Corporations has been recorded at 67.46% till 3.00 pm.

Apart from the ruling TRS, and main rival party Congress, BJP, TJS, CPI and TDP are all in the poll fray. 

Over 53.37 lakh people 129 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), comprising of 120 municipalities and nine municipal corporations, will vote in the elections on Wednesday. The results will be declared on January 25.

Telangana State Election Commission had issued the notification on January 7, 2020. The total municipal wards in the 129 ULBs are 2,727 while there are 325 divisions in the nine municipal corporations.

However, the Karim Nagar municipal, which has 60 divisions, will hold elections on January 24 the results of which will be declared with the other ULBs on January 25.

The election body has set up a total of 1438 polling stations across the nine municipal corporations and 6325 in 120 municipalities. A total of 325 corporators for nine corporations and 2727 councillors for 120 municipalities will be elected in these elections.

The State Election Commissioner had told reporters on Tuesday that elaborate measures had been taken to conduct free and fair polls, with as many as 55,000 staff members being drafted for the poll process. The commissioner said for smooth elections, video coverage and webcasting would be done in 6,500 polling stations. 

Moreover, 50 per cent of the seats in the 120 municipalities (2,727 municipal wards) and nine municipal corporations (325 divisions) are reserved for women under the new Municipal Act. A total of 12,898 candidates are in the fray for the 2,727 municipal wards and 325 divisions.

Also, a large cache of 50,000 police personnel had been deployed for the polls.