The Huzurabad Assembly constituency, spanning five mandals — four in Karimnagar district and one in Hanamkonda district — virtually turned into a police garrison as the stage is set for the high stakes byelection to the Huzurabad Assembly seat on Saturday.
Of the total 306 polling stations, a staggering number of 127 polling stations (41.50%) have been classified as ‘critical’ polling stations in the constituency. Large contingents of State police as well as the Central armed police forces (CAPFs) comprising a total of 3,865 police personnel have been deployed to ensure a free and fair byelection and 1,715 polling staff have been pressed into service for the bypoll duty.
As many as 2,37,022 voters are expected to decide the fate of a total of 30 contestants in the Saturday’s byelection.
The constituency is slated to witness one of the toughest electoral battle ever as the stakes are high for the ruling TRS, the BJP and the Congress parties, which spearheaded a no-holds-barred electioneering.
The bypoll was necessitated following the resignation of the former minister for health and the sitting MLA Eatala Rajender, who quit the ruling TRS and subsequently joined the BJP following his expulsion from the State Cabinet. He is locked in a keen contest with the TRS’s Gellu Srinivas Yadav and the Congress party’s Balmuri Venkat Narsing Rao.
The election campaign was marred by grave allegations of widespread distribution of money by some politicians to lure voters in the bypoll. The election campaign saw the biggest seizure of more than ₹ 3.31 crore cash as part of the election model code of conduct (MCC) enforcement drive. More than 130 cases of violation of MCC were registered in the five mandals of the constituency.
A record number of 2,284 “history sheeters” and “trouble mongers” were bound over to ensure peaceful conduct of the byelection.
Meanwhile, District Election Officer and Collector R. V. Karnan, along with Karimnagar Police Commissioner V. Satyanarayana reviewed the byelection arrangements in Huzurabad on Friday.
Speaking to mediapersons, Mr. Karnan said elaborate arrangements have been made as per the Election Commission guidelines in all the 306 polling stations to ensure free and fair byelection. Voting will be allowed from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday.
He called upon people to report any violation of the MCC and other electoral malpractices, including inducement and intimidation of voters, through the Election Commission’s c-VIGIL mobile app to ensure prompt action against the violators.
Tight security arrangements have been made to prevent untoward incidents during the polling, he said, adding that an adequate number of flying squads, static surveillance teams have been deployed.
Every voter should wear a face mask and follow the COVID-19 safety protocols during polling, he said, adding that COVID-19 patients can cast their votes by wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits, kept at the polling stations, in the last hour of polling.
Returning Officer Ravinder Reddy said three cases were booked based on complaints of distribution of money in some villages in the last two days. Stern action will be taken against those spreading rumours on social media and indulging in electoral malpractices, he added.