The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls were conducted on Tuesday, with more than 150 divisions of the GHMC going to polls and 1,122 candidates in the fray to win these divisions. Among those who exercised their right to vote were actors Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Amala, Vijay Deverakonda, Sai Dharam Tej, Minister KT Rama Rao, Union Minister Kishan Reddy, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Director General of Police (DGP) Mahender Reddy, Cyberabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar, Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar and Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat.
The GHMC electorate constitutes 38,89,637 male, 35,76,941 female and 678 other voters. The election is being conducted through paper ballots instead of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, wearing a face mask has been mandatory for voters before entering the polling stations. Authorities said that those without protective face masks would not be allowed into the polling station.
The GHMC has deployed 36,404 personnel for the polling duty. Authorities ensured that each polling station was equipped with sanitizers and masks. According to the DGP, over 50,000 police personnel were deployed to ensure polling took place peacefully. Cyberabad commissioner VC Sajjanar said that 13,500 police personnel were deployed in 38 divisions falling within its jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, the polling authorities have nullified the election in Malakpet, after the election authorities committed a blunder by printing a wrong voting symbol for the CPI party. Instead of printing their party symbol, which is the sickle and three ears of corn, they printed the CPI (Marxist) vote symbol of the hammer, sickle and star. A repolling in this division will take place on December 3. Media has been banned from publishing/telecasting exit poll prediction until 6 pm on Thursday, in view of the re-polling.
In the bitterly contested elections, TRS, BJP and Congress are contesting all the 150 seats, while AIMIM has fielded candidates in 51 divisions. In the previous elections held in 2016, TRS had won 99 seats, while the AIMIM had finished second with 44 seats. BJP was able to win only four seats at the time.
IANS inputs