67 percent polling in Warangal Lok Sabha bypoll

Hyderabad, Nov 21 : Over 67 percent of voters cast their ballots on Saturday in the Lok Sabha bye-election for Warangal constituency in Telangana. Polling was peaceful, said Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwarlal. No untoward incident was reported from anywhere in the constituency. Polling began on a dull note at 7 a.m. but later picked up. However, the turnout was lower than the 78.54 percent recorded in the 2014 general elections. Polling in all 1,778 polling stations spread over seven assembly segments ended at 5 p.m. but those standing in queue were allowed to vote. A total of 15,09,671 voters, half of them voters, were eligible to cast their votes. As many as 23 candidates were in the fray. The Election commission made elaborate arrangements to ensure free and fair polling. About 8,000 polling personnel including 738 micro observers were deployed. As many as 10,000 security personnel including central paramilitary forces were deployed to ensure peaceful polling. Telangana assembly speaker Madhusudhana Chary, Deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari, Congress MP R. Anana Bhaskar and TDP leader E. Dayakar Rao were among the prominent people who cast their votes in the constituency. Kadiam Srihari's resignation as a Lok Sabha member following his induction in the state cabinet led to the bye-election. The stakes are high for the TRS, which fielded P. Dayakar. The Congress nominated former union minister Sarve Satyanarayana while P. Devaiah was the BJP candidate. The Left parties jointly fielded Vinod Kumar while Suryaprakash was the candidate of the YSR Congress Party. Votes will be counted on November 24.