Campaign bells for the fourth phase of elections for the 17 Lok Sabha constituencies, and Secunderabad Cantonment bypoll, fell silent in Telangana at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
The State goes to polls on May 13 (Monday) with a total of 625 contestants in the fray. Out of the 17, six sitting MPs, including Hyderabad’s Asaduddin Owaisi and Secunderabad’s G. Kishan Reddy are seeking re-election.
Addressing the press on Saturday, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vikas Raj said that the campaign period ended at 4 p.m. for constituencies of Adilabad (ST), Peddapalli (SC), Warangal (SC), Mahabubabad (ST) and Khammam. Polling in these constituencies will be held between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. Voting in all the remaining constituencies will be conducted between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.
In all, the campaign period witnessed 8,600 FIRs filed against reported Model Code of Conduct (MCC) violations.
Most of the poll-related complaints (10,526) were received on National Grievance Service Portal, the integrated single-window system for monitoring and disposing complaints. About 2,800 complaints were also received via C-Vigil app and call centre 1950.
As per latest figures, Mr. Raj said, “The vote-from-home facility was availed by 20,163 voters - citizens over age 85 and persons with disabilities. And 1.88 lakh entitled voters exercised their franchise through postal ballot voting. A final figure is pending reconciliation.
In the 48 hours to closure of polling on Monday, the ECI placed a ban on transmission of election-related bulk SMS, broadcast and display of campaign related material on television. The ban on conduct and publication of exit polls will be in force till 6.30 p.m. on June 1.
Explaining the preparations for the polling, Mr. Vikas Raj explained that electonic voting machines – 1,05,019 ballot units,44,568 control units and 48,134 VVPATS were available. The ECI is also ensuring three engineers from ECIL for each Assembly segment.
With about 1.96 lakh poll personnel, voting will be conducted in 35,809 polling stations across the State. Of these, the three smallest poll stations are with 10, 12 and 14 voters.
