Hyderabad sees dismal voter turnout of under 40% as polling concludes in Telangana

Polling for the Lok Sabha seats in Telangana ended peacefully on Thursday in all constituencies at 5 pm, and in Nizamabad constituency at 6 pm. About 60% voter turnout was recorded in all 17 constituencies till 5 pm. Polling in 13 Maoist-affected Assembly segments in five Lok Sabha constituencies ended at 4 pm.

Secunderabad witnessed the lowest voter turnout in the state, with just 39.20% eligible voters coming out to vote. This was followed by Hyderabad at 39.49% and Malkajgiri at 42.75%. In Hyderabad constituency, the Yakutpura Assembly segment saw the lowest turnout with just 31.10%, followed by Malakpet at 33.21%.

The maximum turnout was witnessed in Medak at 68.60%, followed by Bhongir at 68.25% and Karimnagar at 68%.

In Nizamabad, a record number of EVMs were used to accommodate 185 candidates, which included 178 farmers who contested the election after they held agitations for a National Turmeric Board. The voter turnout for Nizamabad has not been released at the time of writing.

Nearly 2.97 crore voters were eligible to cast their votes to decide the fortunes of 443 candidates, including just 25 women. Election authorities had set up 46,120 polling stations and deployed three lakh personnel, including about a lakh security personnel as part of the elaborate arrangements.

Telangana Chief Minister and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K Chandrasekhar Rao's daughter Kalvakuntla Kavitha, senior TRS leader Vinod Kumar, state Congress chief Uttam Kumar Reddy, former Union Minister Renuka Chowdary (Congress) and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) President Asaduddin Owaisi were among the prominent candidates.

The counting of votes will be taken up on May 23, and the results will be declared for all Lok Sabha constituencies and Assembly segments on the same day.

In 2014, the TRS had bagged 11 seats while the Congress secured two seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Telugu Desam Party (TDP), AIMIM and YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) had won a seat each.

The TDP and YSRCP did not contest the elections in Telangana this time.

With IANS inputs