Hyderabad: As one of the most bitter and acrimonious election campaigns arouses raw passion and has created a lot of tension, authorities have made elaborate security arrangements for Tuesday’s polling in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections.
As many as 50,000 policemen were deployed in the GHMC limits spread over three commissionerates of Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda covering 150 wards to ensure free and fair polling.
Hyderabad police commissioner Anjani Kumar told the media that 22,000 police were deployed in his jurisdiction while the remaining were deployed in the adjacent commissionerates. 293 polling statons were identified as hyper sensitive where additional police pickets were deployed.
About 7 million men and women were eligible to exercise their franchise to decide the fate of about 1,200 candidates. The main battle was among the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), BJP and the Congress.
Polling material including ballot papers and ballot boxes, precautionary anti-Corona kits were distributed to the polling staff at 30 different centres in Hyderabad by Telangana State Election Commission authorities on Sunday.
Nosiy campaign
Even as the curtains rung down on the noisy campaign on Sunday evening, rival politicians continued to target each other. BJP, which had fielded several top national leaders including Union Minister Minister Amit Shah and national party president JP Nadda in the campaign continued to create stir. Its state leaders and workers staged a protest demonstration on Monday alleging that the state election commission was playing a partisan role.
A large number of workers led by party MLA Raghunandan Rao, MLA Ramachandra Rao and general secretary Indrasena Reddy shouted slogans against the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and the state election commission alleging a nexus between the two. BJP leaders alleged that at the behest of the Chief Minister, the commission had not deployed the teachers for election duty as they had turned against the government.
As the agitators tried to barge their way into the election commission office at AC Guards, the police took them into custody.
Another BJP MLA Raja Singh alleged that the ruling TRS was distributing money among the voters to lure them but the police was not taking any action.
There were allegations that some of the candidates were directly transferring the money to the bank accounts of voters to influence their vote.
Civic polls
Both the TRS and the BJP have exuded confidence of emerging victorious in the civic polls while the MIM said that the BJP was in an illusion of its own making.
While Chief Minister KCR said that the people of the city will vote for his party to continue the development of the city, the BJP leaders said that GHMC election will mark the “destruction of the KCR rule”. Amit Shah told the media that after winning the GHMC polls now, BJP will come to power in Telangana next.
Meanwhile the state election commissioner Parthasarathi has issued warning that after the end of the campaign if outsiders stay in GHMC limits and any body continues to campaign, strict action will be taken against them. “Such people will be punishable with imprisonment and fine”, he said adding that all the necessary measures were taken to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections.
