Curtain came down on the high voltage campaign for the forthcoming elections to 120 municipalities and nine municipal corporations.
The State Election Commission has notified elections to 2,727 wards in 120 municipalities and 325 divisions in nine corporations for which January 22 is the polling day. The election to Karimnagar Municipal Corporation with 60 divisions would be held on January 24 as notification for the corporation was delayed by a couple of days because of a court case.
The SEC has set up 6,325 polling stations for the 120 municipalities and 1,438 polling stations for the nine municipal corporations which are going to polls on January 22. Elaborate security arrangements had been made in all the urban local bodies that are going to polls and restrictions under Section 144 had been imposed in areas surrounding the polling stations.
More than 12,900 candidates are in the fray for the 2,727 wards in 120 municipalities and 325 divisions in municipal corporations that are going to polls. Though the election authorities have not revealed information regarding the candidates elected unopposed, 69 candidates of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti and three of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen are said to be elected unanimously.
Hectic campaigning was on for almost two weeks as all the major political parties including the TRS, the Congress and the BJP took it as prestige issue. While TRS working president and Minister K.T. Rama Rao supervised the campaign and strategy of the ruling party and State Congress president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and MP A. Revanth Reddy led the campaign on its behalf.
Buoyed by the success in the Lok Sabha elections when the party secured four seats, BJP state president K. Lakshman conducted road shows in some municipalities as part of the party’s campaign.
A significant feature of the campaign was the participation of all the Ministers who conducted whirlwind tours in the urban local bodies that are going to polls in their respective districts.The Ministers, according to sources, had been entrusted the responsibility of ensuring the party’s victory in all the municipalities and corporations by the TRS leadership and they had accordingly conducted vigorous campaign for the party’s nominees.
Meanwhile, the State Election Commission has said that eligible voters could download their voter slips from its website www.tsec.gov.in or mobile App T-Poll. The commission declared a local holiday in the areas which are going to polls and asked shops and establishments to observe a paid holiday on the polling day.
The commission had already warned the contesting candidates as well as political parties against indulging in any kind of campaign after the closing hours on Monday. In addition to restrictions on the print and electronic media, the SEC has imposed ban on transmission of bulk messages in all poll-bound areas till the polling is completed.
