Few voters cast their votes in the by-election for the Medak Lok Sabha seat, which was held on Saturday.
At some places, polling staff were forced to wait for voters. The officials put the polling percentage at 67.79 by 6 p.m.
The Medak Lok Sabha had witnessed 76 per cent polling in the 2009 elections and 77.35 per cent polling in the general elections held few months back.
Out of a total of 15,43,075 votes, 10,46,080 votes were polled. Of the seven Assembly constituencies, Narsapur has registered the highest polling percentage at 78.44 (1,59,911), followed by Gajwel 74 (1,73,271), Dubbak 72.72 (1,35,970), Medak 67.82 (1,38,375), Siddipet 66.76 (1,35,588), Sangareddy 65.85 (1,40,894) and Patancheru 54.57 (1,62,071).
During the general elections in April, Siddipet polled 1,50,167 votes followed by Medak (1,58,000), Narsapur (1,74,600), Sangareddy (1,57,222), Patancheru (1,99,061), Dubbak (1,52,837) and Gajwel (1,96,197).
A dip in the polling percentage at Sangareddy and Patancheru kept the BJP and TDP on tenterhooks as had high hopes of securing a good majority.
People participated in voting in large numbers during the general elections as they felt it was time to thank the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) for realising their long cherished dream.
“A month back, we held a survey for which people were forced to return to their villages. People will have to go to their native places to participate in the Dasara celebrations also. Hence, they did not turn up to participate in the polling,” said a TRS leader on condition of anonymity.
It is yet to be seen whether TRS candidate Kotha Prabhakar Reddy will get the same percentage of votes as the party got in the recent general elections when Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao was the candidate.
