Officials with election material in Hyderabad on Monday. PTI

Hyderabad, November 30

The stage is set for polling on Tuesday in the Hyderabad civic polls which witnessed a high-decibel campaign resembling an Assembly or parliamentary election with top leaders from different parties participating in the electioneering.

Nizam’s grandson hits back at shah

A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the BJP wanted to free Hyderabad from the “Nizam culture”, the last ruling Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan’s grandson, Nawab Najaf Ali Khan, said politicians could not change the “Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb”.

He said it was unfortunate that some political parties were trying to tarnish the image of the last ruler of erstwhile Hyderabad. IANS

BJP’s Telangana chief Stirs up row

BJP’s Telangana chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar found himself in a row following his comments that his party would conduct a “surgical strike” to send away Rohingya and Pakistanis.

AIMIM’s Akbaruddin Owaisi earned the wrath by asking if the ‘samadhis’ of ex-PM PV Narasimha Rao and TDP founder NT Rama Rao would be removed.

As many as 74,44,260 voters will exercise their franchise using ballot papers to elect their representatives in the 150-ward Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), according to official data. The polling would begin at 7 am and come to an end at 6 pm. The total number of contesting candidates is 1,122. The Telangana State Election Commission (SEC) has made elaborate arrangements for the balloting process by deploying 48,000 (including reserve) polling personnel and 52,500 strong police force. The commission had decided to conduct the election with ballot papers after obtaining the views of major political parties, Health Department in view of Covid-19 and taking into consideration various relevant issues, it said earlier. The SEC has conducted a campaign, featuring some film personalities, to motivate the electorate to vote. Observing that all arrangements, including those in view of the COVID-19 pandemic,have been made for smooth polling, State Election Commissioner C Parathasarathi has appealed to the voters to exercise their franchise. The run-up to the polling witnessed a high decibel and often acrimonious campaign. Buoyed by its victory in the recent bypoll to Dubbak Assembly constituency, the BJP conducted a powerful campaign to win the GHMC poll. It has drafted its General Secretary Bhupendra Yadav, who has been itsincharge for Bihar, to supervise the preparation for the poll in Hyderabad.

Top leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, party president JP Nadda, UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Union Ministers Prakash Javadekar, Smriti Irani and MoS (Home) G Kishan Reddy, who is Lok Sabha member from Secunderabad, participated in the campaign. —PTI