Hyderabad sources stated that the stage is set for polling in all 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in Telangana on Thursday with elaborate arrangements being made to ensure a free and fair poll. After having swept the Assembly polls held in December last, the ruling TRS is hoping for an encore in the company of AIMIM while the opposition Congress and BJP appear to be focused on winning select number of seats.
Meanwhile as many as 443 candidates (418 male and 25 female) candidates are in the fray in the 17 constituencies. Furthermore over 2.97 crore voters, including 1504 transgender, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the state, which has a total of 34,604 polling stations. Reportedly polling would be held from 7 am to 4 pm in 13 Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected Assembly segments under five parliamentary constituencies, and from 7 am to 5 pm in all other Lok Sabha constituencies.
Moreover Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency is a special case in this parliamentary election as 185 candidates, including more than 170 farmers, are in the fray. Apparently the Election Commission has decided to conduct the poll in Nizamabad with EVMs (12 EVMs in each booth) despite the large number of candidates. Moreover polling in Nizamabad would be begin at 8 am and end at 6 pm as mock polling is expected to take more time compared to other constituencies in view of the large number of candidates. Perhaps KCR said if TRS won 16 seats, it would play a key role in national politics.
