Hyderabad: The stage is set for people of Telangana to elect a new government, with Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi seeking a third term and, the combative Indian National Congress and Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party working with steely determination to dethrone the pink party.
Over three crore voters will choose 119 representatives from 2,290 candidates, who are in the fray for Thursday’s election for the state Legislative Assembly.
Voting across the 35,755 polling booths spread across the 119 constituencies will begin at 7 am, and end at 5 pm. In some designated polling booths in 13 Maoist-affected constituencies, however, polling will close at 4 pm.
The term of the current Telangana Legislative Assembly is set to end on January 16.
Leading those in the fray to return, or make an entry, or re-entry to the Assembly is BRS candidate Chandrashekar Rao contesting from two constituencies Gajwel where he won in the last two elections, and Kamareddy, where he is trying his luck for the first time. Other senior BRS leaders in the contest include party working president and minister K.T. Rama Rao from Siricilla, and minister T Harish Rao from Siddipet.
Chandrashekar Rao faces two senior leaders from Congress and the BJP in what has been billed as grudge matches in both Gajwel and Kamareddy. While in Gajwel, he faces BJP’ Etala Rajender, and in Kamareddy, the BRS chief is in the contest with state Congress party chief A Revanth Reddy.
Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president Revanth Reddy is also contesting from his home constituency of Kodangal, while senior Congress leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka is in the race from Madhira ST constituency, and N. Uttam Kumar Reddy is contesting from Huzurnagar with these three leading a host of other senior Congress leaders contesting across the state.
For the BJP, among the big names in the contest are Etala Rajendar from Huzurabad in addition to Gajwel, Lok Sabha members Bandi Sanjay Kumar from Karimnagar, Arvind Dharmapuri from Korutla, and Soyam Bapu Rao from Boath ST constituencies.
Elsewhere, contesting for the first time and leading a pack of around 100 candidates from the Bahujan Samaj Party is former IPS officer R.S. Praveen Kumar, who is contesting from Sirpur where he is reported to be in the midst of a pitched battle with BRS’ sitting MLA Koneru Konappa.
In Hyderabad, the city’s strongman party, the AIMIM is hoping to win seven seats it holds in the outgoing Assembly with its leader Akbaruddin Owaisi leading the nine-member MIM pack.
There has also been a lot of interest in some other candidates who entered the election contest for various reasons including K. Sirisha, an unemployed youth who shot to popularity as ‘Barrelakka’ as took up cattle herding and declared that she is in the fray from Kollapur on behalf of all the unemployed in the state. She has been giving some sleepless nights to both the BRS and the Congress in Kollapur and is tipped to give both established parties a run for their money.
Telangana Elections in Numbers:
119 - Total seats in Telangana Legislative Assembly
2,290 - Total candidates
Party-wise contestants
119 Bharat Rashtra Samithi
118 - Indian National Congress
111 - Bharatiya Janata Party
107 - Bahujan Samaj Party
15 - Communist Party of India-Marxist
9 - All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen
8- Jana Sena (BJP tie-up)
1 – Communist Party of India
1,802 - Others/Independents
35,755 – Polling stations
59,779 – EVMs
Voters:
1,63,13,268– Male
1,63,02,261 – Female
2,676 – Third gender
15,406 – Service
3,26,18,205 – Total voters
9,99,667 – Young voters (18-19 yrs) – 5,70,204 (Male), 4,29,273 (Female), 120 (Third gender)
4,40,371 – Senior citizens – 1,89,519 (Male), 2,50,840 (Female), 12 (Third gender)
2,944 – Overseas electors – 2,380 (Male), 563 (Female), 1 (Third gender)
5,06,921 – Persons with disabilities (PWD) voters, 2,90,090 (Male), 2,16,815 (Female), 16 (third gender)
Arrangements for PWD voters:
21,866 wheelchairs – one at every polling station
76,532 voter slips in Braille for visually challenged
40,000 voter’s guides in Braille for visually challenged
