Over 2.81 crore voters will decide fate of 1669 candidates

Hyderabad, April 29 : The stage is set for the first phase of polling in 17 Lok Sabha and 119 Assembly segments in Telangana on Wednesday.

As many as 2,81,74,055 voters including 37,81,276 women will decide the fate of 656 candidates for 17 Lok Sabha constituencies and 1669 candidates for the 119 Assembly segments. The Amberpet Assembly segment has the maximum of 32 candidates followed by Secunderabad (31) and Khairtabad (30). Likewise, Boath (ST) and Andole (SC) have least number of five candidates each.

Quthbullapur has the maximum number of 601,246 voters followed by Serilingampally (591,259) and Lal Bahadur Nagar (529,674). Similarly, Bellampalle (SC) has the least number of 160,960 voters in Telangana.

Elaborate arrangements have been made for the polling, which will be held from 7 AM to 6 PM 109 out of 119 Assembly constituencies. Polling will be held from 7 AM to 5 PM in Khanapur, Asifabad, Chennur and Sirpur Assembly constituencies of Adilabad district. Originally, the polling in these constituencies was to end at 4 PM. But following a request made by Adilabad District Collector Ahmed Babu, the Election Commission of India has extended the time by one hour up to 5 PM.

Similarly, the polling will end at 4 PM in Bhupalapalle, Mulug and Bhadrachalam Assembly segments.

Among major parties, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi has fielded a total of 118 candidates followed by Congress (112), Bahujan Samaj Party (102), YSR Congress Party (92), TDP (72), BJP (45), Lok Satta (40), CPI-M (37), MIM (20), JSP (19), CPI (7) and MBT (4). As many as 667 independent candidates are also in the fray. More than half of the candidates in five Assembly segments are independents. They are Kukatpally (17/29), LB Nagar (16/29), Ramagundem (16/27), Ibrahimpatnam (15/26 and Khammam (15/25).

Despite the presence of over a dozen parties in the fray, it is likely to be triangular contest in a majority of seats between the TRS, Congress and TDP-BJP combine.  INN