Early Polling in Violence Affected Areas

Hyderabad: After the proscribed Maoists called for the boycott of elections in Telangana, the Election Commission has deployed heavy forces at Maoist-affected places in 13 Assembly constituencies  in Telangana, where polling would end one hour early by 4 pm.

In 2018, the Election Commission of India (ECI) had listed polling stations in 17 constituencies as Maoist-affected. The four constituencies taken off the list are Mahbubabad, Nirmal, Adilabad, and Ramagundam. Those remaining on the list are Manthani, Chennur, Sirpur, Bellampalli, Asifabad, Mancherial, Bhupalpally, Mulugu, Illandu, Pinapaka, Aswaraopet, Bhadrachalam and Kothagudem.

With the Maoists warning the voters not to participate in elections, polling in these stations will be completed an hour early due to security reasons. In these places, polling will be held from 7 am to 4 pm, while elsewhere it will end at 5 pm.

Police officials said the state and central forces have been deployed at the polling stations in Maoist-affected places and the majority of polling stations have lowest voters. The polling staff and police forces have reached the sensitive places.