Polling for 120 municipalities and nine corporations which went to polls on Wednesday received an enthusiastic support from voters with the average polling percentage standing at 74.68.
According to information reaching here, Pochampalli municipality registered highest polling with 95.13% followed by Chandur (91.33%), Yadagirigutta (90.69%) and Choutuppal (90.61%). Voting was equally enthusiastic in 43 municipalities which registered polling percentage in excess of 80% and these included Chityal (89.75%), Mothkur (89.66%), Ramayampet (88.97%) and Tirumalgiri (88.77%).
Polling in the municipal corporations was, however, on the lower side as expected with Ramagundam Municipal Corporation registering the highest of 67.66% polling and Nizampet lowest at 39.65%. With candidates in 80 municipal wards and one division being elected unopposed, elections were held for 2,647 wards in 120 municipalities and 324 wards in nine corporations.
Elections to the Karimnagar Municipal Corporation is slated on Friday and the campaign for elections in the corporation came to a close on Wednesday evening. Voting in Dabeerpura under the GHMC evoked lukewarm response from the electors with the division reporting poll percentage of 27.31.
The State Election Commission had set up 6,188 polling stations in municipalities and 1,773 in municipal corporations. In all, 11,099 candidates are in the fray in the municipalities and 1,746 are contesting for 324 divisions in the nine municipal corporations. Counting of votes for the urban local bodies that went to polls on Wednesday would be taken up on January 25 while counting for the Karimnagar municipal corporation would be held on January 27.
Barring sporadic incidents involving scuffles between the activists of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti and opposition parties, the polling went off peacefully. Police resorted to mild lathi-charge to disperse clashing activists of the TRS and the BJP in Nizamabad while mild scuffles were reported in Jogulamba-Gadwal and other districts. A Congress candidate in Bodhan municipality bit the nose of his TRS rival during the scuffle between the members of the two parties forcing the police to intervene and shift the injured TRS contestant to the hospital.
Over 45,000 staff had been drafted for election duties and another 10,000 for counting while 55,000 security personnel had been engaged on poll duty. The State Election Commission made arrangements for live webcast of poll proceedings in 2,046 polling stations and videography in 2,072 polling stations while facial recognition software was deployed on a pilot basis in 10 polling stations in Kompally.
