Amid heavy voter turnout the by-election for Dubbak Assembly constituency passed off peacefully without any untoward incident on Tuesday.
Heavy voter turnout caught the major parties by surprise. By 5 p.m. about 81.44 per cent of the voters cast their votes. Adhering to COVID-19 guidelines, elaborate arrangements were made by the district administration for the voters to exercise their franchise. As polling commenced at 7 a.m., voters were asked to follow social distancing norms without fail. There were no large queues outside the polling stations as one booth was set up to cover 1,000 voters.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Shahank Goel, District Election Officer and Collector Bharathi Hollikeri and Commissioner of Police Joel Davis visited the constituency and supervised the process of polling.
As many as 23 candidates are testing their luck including S. Sujatha from TRS, Ch Srinivas Reddy from Congress and M Raghunandan Rao from BJP. Counting will be taken up on November 10. Heavy police forces were mobilised to see that there are not any untoward incidents.
From morning onwards polling percentage kept increasing. At 9 a.m. it was 12.74 per cent followed by 34.33 % at 11 a.m. By 1 p.m. it 55.52%, by 3 p.m. 71.1% and by 5 p.m. it was 81.44%.
Ms. Bharathi visited polling stations at Lachapet, Bhumaplly and Narsingi in Dubbak mandal, Boanala in Chegunta mandal and examined the polling process, thermal screening voters and providing them gloves.
Mr. Shashank Goel visited Lachapet, Dubbak Government Junior College and other places. He expressed satisfaction over the smooth conduct of elections.
“We have taken all precautions with COVID-19 guidelines for the conduct of elections as per directions of Election Commission of India (ECI). Elections are being held peacefully. Technical teams have been kept ready to address any emergency,” said Mr. Goel.
The last one hour of polling was reserved for patients with COVID symptoms.
