LS Polls Held Peacefully in Warangal, Mahabubabad

 Waranga: The polling for the Lok Sabha elections in Warangal and Mahabubabad constituencies was held on a generally peaceful note, but for a few incidents of protests and clashes in Warangal region on Monday.

The voting percentage was 64.08 in the Warangal parliament constituency by 6pm while it was 68.6 percent for Mahabubabad.

Of the seven assembly segments in the Warangal LS, the highest voting was in the Station Ghanpur assembly segment, 74.64 per cent. The lowest was in the Warangal West, 47 per cent.

In Mahabubabad parliament constituency, the highest voting percentage was in the Narsampet assembly segment, 73.01, while the lowest was in Bhadrachalam. Right from the morning, large numbers of people reached the polling centres and stood in the queues for voting.

In some polling centres in Mahabubabad and Warangal districts, there were some technical issues. The EVMs did not function and the polling started an hour late. Officials replaced the EVMS with new ones and started the polling process.

The voting percentage steadily increased by afternoon. The weather was cool because of the heavy rain that lashed the region on Sunday night.

State minister Seethakka exercised her vote in Jaggannapeta village of Mulugu district while Konda Surekha cast her vote in the Zilla Parishad High School in Vanchanagiri of Warangal district.

Congress LS candidate Kadiam Kavya along with her father and Station Ghanpur MLA Kadiam Srihari and other family members voted at the polling centre in Teachers colony in Hanamkonda city.

While the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate Aroori Ramesh voted in a private school in Fathimanagar of Kazipet, BRS party candidate Sudheer Kumar voted in Bhimadevrapally mandal of Hanamkonda district.

The polling was completed one hour before in the Maoist-affected areas like Bhupalpally, Mulugu, Yellandu, Pinapaka and Bhadrachalam assembly segments by 4 pm.

In a bizarre incident, people of a Dalit colony at Padmarakota in Warangal city staged a protest in front of the Ambedkar community hall. They alleged that political parties had not visited their colony and not given any money to them.

“We will vote if we are given money,” they said. However, when the officials convinced them about the need for them to vote, they exercised their franchise.

In another incident in the Chinthalagadda Thanda of the Mahabubabad district, voters staged a protest alleging that the officials acted negligently in establishing the polling centre in their village and announced that they will not vote. Officials rushed to the village and persuaded them to cast their votes.