An electorate of 17.97 lakh will decide the fate of 28 candidates in the fray for the Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat in the election slated to be held on May 13.
The main contestants include the incumbent MP and the BJP candidate Bandi Sanjay Kumar, the BRS candidate and former MP B. Vinod Kumar and the Congress party candidate V. Rajender Rao.
The stakes are high for the three parties in the battle of ballots from the prestigious Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat — a key constituency in north Telangana. The contest has become more intense as the ruling Congress and the main Opposition BRS are keen on wresting the seat from the BJP.
Arrangements are in place to conduct the elections in a free and fair manner in as many as 2,194 polling stations spread across seven Assembly segments — Karimnagar, Vemulawada, Sircilla, Manakondur, Choppadandi, Huzurabad and Husnabad, official sources said. An estimated 10,200 polling personnel have been drafted for election duty.
As many as 1,012 polling stations will have live webcasting of the election proceedings.
Returning Officer and Karimnagar District Collector Pamela Satpathy visited the EVM distribution centres and oversaw the dispatch of the polling materials, including EVMs to polling centres.
Karimnagar Police Commissioner Abhishek Mohanty reviewed the election bandobast arrangements in Karimnagar. Around 2,500 police personnel, including the personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) have been deployed for election bandobast duty in the constituency.
In the SC-reserved Peddapalli constituency, as many as 15,96,430 voters will exercise their franchise in Monday’s election.
A total of 42 candidates, including Gaddam Vamsi Krishna from Congress, Koppula Eshwar from BRS and Gomasa Srinivas from BJP are in the fray.
Of the total 1,850 polling stations, as many as 259 have been classified as ‘critical’, including 38 in the Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas in the constituency.
A strong posse of police force comprising CAPFs has been deployed in polling stations located in the LWE affected areas of Manthani, Bellampalli and Chennur Assembly segments to ensure incident-free elections in a free and fair manner.
