Telangana Assembly elections 2018 LIVE: KCR casts vote; 48.09% polling recorded till 1 pm

Caretaker Minister KT Rama Rao cast his vote at a polling station in Hyderabad.

Caretaker CM of Telangana K Chandrashekar Rao casts his vote at a polling station in Siddipet.

"It (polling) is going on very satisfactorily..I want to thank Telangana voters," says Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar.

Telangana registers 48.09% voter turnout till 1 pm.

Mulug in Jayashankar district of Telangana Legislative Assembly, a constituency reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates, has seen maximum turn out of 35.26% till 11 am, reports News 18.

BJP MP Bandaru Dattatreya casts his vote at booth no.229 in Ramnagar of Musheerabad constituency in Hyderabad.

"The youngest state of India, Telangana has lost four precious years due to ‘Corruption, Commission & Coterie Raj'. Let us throw out the arrogance of power and usher in a New era towards a ‘Bangaru Telangana’," Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala's tweet.

Telangana has registered 23% votes till 11am.

"I appeal to my sisters and brothers of Telangana to come out and vote in large numbers for a appeasement free and development oriented government. I specially urge my young friends to participate in this biggest festival of democracy without fail," tweets BJP president Amit Shah.

Asaduddin Owaisi at polling booth no. 317 in Mailardevpally, Shastripuram.

Actor Chiranjeevi casts vote:

Voting turnout in Telangana Assembly Elections is 8.97% till 9 AM.

Deputy Chief Minister Kadiyam​ Srihari casts his vote in Warangal.

Yakutpura constituency's AIMIM candidate Mumtaz Ahmed Khan​ Mumtaz Ahmed Khan has complained about non-local booth agents of other parties being present at polling stations. Khan had won the Yakutpura seat in 2014 by 34,423 votes and defeated BJP's Ch Roopraj, reports News 18.

state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Rajat Kumar Thursday said as many as 446 flying squads were in operation in the state to swing into action if any irregularity was reported and 448 static surveillance teams would also keep a watch on the situation. They would wait in the wings to take action, he said. Besides, 224 video-surveillance teams and 133 video-viewing teams were pressed into service. There were 126 assistant expenditure observers and 123 accounting teams, reported PTI.

Additional DG ( Law and order) Jitender Thursday told PTI that about one lakh security personnel, including 25,000 central paramilitary forces and 20,000 from other states, are engaged in poll duties. A senior police official said security was beefed up at bordering areas which were identified as Left Wing Extremist-affected regions.

Allu Arjun set to cast vote:

Actor Akkineni Nagarjuna casts vote:

There are long queues at several polling booths in Telangana. There seems to be a rush of early morning voters.

Voting is yet to begin at the polling station at GHMC Indoor Stadium, Amberpet. There was a delay due to some issue technical issue. Polling in Peddapalli, Karimnagar and Khammam also delayed due to technical issues.

A technical problem has been reported at the polling station in GHMC Indoor Stadium, Amberpet. Voting is yet to begin here.

Caretaker state irrigation minister, T Harish Rao was one of the early birds to cast his vote at polling booth 102 in Siddipet constituency

There is tight security in place as people come out of their homes to cast their votes. Several people came out as early as 6.30 am and waited in queue to cast their votes, which began at 7 am.

Polling for the 119 seats has begun.

Polling begins at 7 am and will end by 5 pm.

Counting of votes will take place on December 11.

Polling will be held from 7 am to 4 pm in Sirpur, Chennur, Bellampally, Mancherial, Asifabad, Manthani, Bhupalpalle, Mulugu, Pinapaka, Yellandu, Kothagudem, Aswaraopeta and Bhadrachalam.

Both the TRS, and the Congress-led opposition alliance claimed on Thursday that the mandate of the Telangana electorate would be in their favour.

The other players in Telangana include the AIMM, BSP and BJP.

The BJP is contesting alone in the elections. It is fitting in all 119 seats.