Campaign for Graduate MLC polls ends, TRS eyes higher voter turnout

Hyderabad: As the campaign for the Legislative Council elections for graduate seats ended on Friday, the TRS leadership has shifted its focus to micro-level booth management and is working hard to ensure a high voter turnout in its favour.  

The ruling party has chalked out a strategy to reach every voter by convening of booth-level party committees in the crucial hours before the March 14 polling. The party has formed a 30-member team per booth, and these entities are being monitored by in-charge ministers, party MPs, MLCs and legislators.

The booth teams were asked to personally reach out to every voter, track the voter slips distribution, help voters in identifying polling booths and ensure they reach the booths and exercised their franchise. Each team will have at least three women besides students and employees from government and private sectors.

The 2015 graduate MLC polls had witnessed poor voter turnout — a little over 35 per cent — and the party leadership believes that this was a prime reason why TRS lost the Hyderabad-Ranga Reddy-Mahbubnagar seat. To avoid this, the party leadership has taken several steps.

TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and working president K.T. Rama Rao on Friday held a tele-conferece with all incharge ministers and other leaders overseeing the elections and guided them on the strategy to be adopted in the final hours before the polling to boost the party’s winning chances.

The data of each and every graduate voter, comprising their address and phone number was provided to all party election incharges. They were asked to share the data with booth-level party committees. Instructions were given to booth committees to track each and every voter, reach out to them and ensure they cast their vote.

Micro-level booth management became all the more important in the wake of fears about a poor voter turnout due to the long weekend.

All parties fear that the four-day holiday — Maha Shivaratri on March 11, Shab-e-Meraj on March 12, Second Saturday on March 13 and Sunday on March 14 — would adversely impact the voting.

Parties which secured mobile phone numbers of voters have shared the data with their booth-wise teams. These teams are calling up the voters, requesting them not to leave the city and urging those who already left city to return by March 14 to cast their votes.