HYDERABAD: At least 2.4 lakh voters will decide not only the fate of candidates of the Munugode assembly constituency bypoll but also the future course of Telangana politics on Thursday.
The political campaign of Telangana Rashtra Samithi and Bharatiya Janata Party in Munugode was fierce, and both parties put all-out effort into winning the election battle.
Polling staff reached the polling stations in Munugode and a large number of police were deployed to prevent any untoward incidents.
Following the violence in Palivela village chief electoral officer Vikas Raj ordered security forces to step up the vigil.
Polling material was distributed from the distribution centre of Don Bosco Junior College, Chandur on Wednesday.
Election staff came there and took the polling materials.
Polling staff with EVMs, VVPAT reached the polling centers allotted to them in buses with armed escorts.
Micro observers were also sent to polling station locations with proformas.
Polling will be held in Munugode assembly constituency on November 3 from 7am to 6pm.
A total of 47 candidates are contesting in the byelection.
Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy from Bharatiya Janata Party, Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy from TRS and Palvai Sravanti from Congress are the key candidates in the fray.
A total of 298 polling centres have been set up in the constituency.
CEO Vikas Raj said that three-tier security was arranged, and the officials have identified 105 problem areas and made security arrangements with police personnel and central forces to prevent any untoward incident.
Both TRS and BJP complained against each other to the Election Commission of India and the Chief Electoral Officer for the alleged violations, including the distribution of money, liquor, gold and other gifts to lure the voters.
Both TRS and BJP are confident of victory in the elections and expressed fear that on Wednesday, cash was distributed to the voters.
