Huzurabad bypoll: Counting of votes begins

Hyderabad: Counting of votes polled in the keenly-watched by-election to the Huzurabad Assembly constituency in Telangana commenced on Tuesday.

The exercise to count 2,05,236 votes began at 8 AM at the SRR Government Degree College in Karimnagar town amid elaborate arrangements.

The counting would be conducted in 22 rounds, officials said.

COVID-19 precautions were being followed in the counting process.

The polling held on Saturday saw 86.64 per cent votes being cast.

According to Karimnagar Police Commissioner V Satyanarayana tight security arrangements have been made at the counting centre for the smooth conduct of the exercise.

The by-election has been necessitated in Huzurabad in view of the resignation of Eatala Rajender in June following his removal from the state Cabinet over allegations of land-grabbing.

Rajender, who dismissed the allegations, had quit TRS and joined BJP. He is seeking re-election on a BJP ticket.

Though as many as 30 candidates are in the fray, the main contest is among Gellu Srinivas Yadav of TRS, BJP's Eatala Rajender and Venkat Balmoori (Congress).

The bypoll is a do-or-die battle for Rajender, while it is significant for the BJP as it aims at emerging as the alternative to ruling TRS in the 2023 Legislative Assembly elections.

It is crucial for the TRS as well as it would like to demonstrate that its dominance in state politics continues unchallenged.