Massive voter turnout of 86.33% was recorded in the bye-election to Huzurabad Assembly constituency in Telangana. Huzurabad had recorded 84.5% polling in the previous election in 2018. Counting of votes will be taken up on November 2. Polling began at 7 am at all 306 polling centres in Huzurabad and the process was mostly peaceful, barring minor incidents of clashes between workers of ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The polling percentage which stood at 76.26% at 5 pm, went up to 86.33% by the end of the day.
Telangana Chief Electoral Officer Shashank Goel said the polling percentage has gone up compared to 2018 elections. He expressed satisfaction over the conduct of polls in a smooth and peaceful manner. Noting various parties have lodged complaints against each other, he said they were looking into the complaints of irregularities and will take appropriate action after receiving reports from poll observers. District Election Officer and Karimnagar District Collector RV Karnan, who visited a few polling stations to oversee the polling process, said Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) at a couple of places developed snags but they were immediately replaced.
Long queues of voters were seen at the polling centres since Saturday morning. A total of 2,37,036 voters were eligible to cast their votes in the bye-election. Twenty companies of central forces in addition to the personnel from state police were deployed as part of the elaborate security arrangements. A total of 30 candidates are in fray in the bye-election, caused by the resignation of Eatala Rajender after he was dropped from state cabinet. Eatala Rajender also quit the TRS to join the BJP. Rajender, who had been representing Huzurabad seat since 2009, is locked in a three-cornered contest with Gellu Srinivas Yadav of the TRS and Balmoor Venkat Narsing Rao of the Congress.