High voter turnout of 84 per cent in Kovur marked peaceful polling in the by-elections to seven Assembly constituencies in the State on Sunday.
The average polling percentage in the seven constituencies was 71 per cent, while it was 68 per cent in the six segments of Telangana – Adilabad, Kamareddy, Station Ghanpur, Mahabubnagar, Nagarkurnool and Kollapur. The by-elections were necessitated following the resignation by six MLAs and the death of another.
Stray incidents
Reports from the districts said barring stray incidents of clashes between party workers, protests by voters whose names were missing from the electoral list and a half-day boycott of polling by villagers for non-fulfilment of promises in Kovur, polling was by and large peaceful.
Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwarlal told reporters that about Rs. 10 crore in cash was seized across the seven constituencies now, against Rs. 38 crore in 294 Assembly and 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the general elections in 2009.
He said the lowest turnout of 61 per cent was reported from Adilabad, while the highest was 84 per cent in Kovur. The constituency-wise break-up is Adilabad (61 per cent), Station Ghanpur (64), Kamareddy (68), Kollapur (75), Nagarkurnool and Mahabubnagar (70 each). There has been no request for re-poll from anywhere and counting of votes would be taken up on March 21.
All 480 voters of Sri Purandhapuram village in Kovur consituency abstained from voting till afternoon when poll officials convinced them to exercise their franchise. In Kamareddy, TRS candidate Gampa Goverdhan picked up a quarrel with the DSP for allowing the TDP candidate's vehicle till a polling booth. In Nagarkurnool, TDP and Congress workers clashed.
Police used mild force near a booth in Kovur to disperse two clashing groups.
Serpentine queue
The heavy turnout in Kovur could be gauged from the fact that at Isukapalem booth polling continued till 6.45 p.m. as the voters were in a serpentine queue till 5 p.m., the scheduled closing time. Mr. Bhanwarlal said the voters were allowed in tune with the Election Commission guidelines. Youth and women turned up in large numbers at several places in this constituency.
