The stage is set for voting for the byelection to Munugode Assembly Constituency on Thursday.
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The State election authority, the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, has made elaborate arrangements for the bypoll, considered prestigious by the three main contenders — the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, which held the seat before the resignation of incumbent K. Rajgopal Reddy.
The byelection was mandated after sitting member K. Rajgopal Reddy resigned from his Assembly membership alleging that the government had ignored the development of the constituency as it was being held by opposition Congress. Mr. Rajgopal Reddy subsequently switched loyalty to the BJP and is contesting for the bypoll on its ticket. The TRS fielded Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy and Palvai Sravanthi is the Congress candidate for the bypoll, while there are more than two dozen independents in the fray.
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The bypoll assumes significance as it is considered as a semi-final ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled towards the end of the next year. Contesting candidates and political parties are leaving no stone unturned to attract voters into their fold resulting in a war of words between the ruling TRS and other major contenders — the BJP and the Congress.
Electorate
According to the election officials, youth in the age group of 20 to 40 constitute major chunk of voters in the constituency, which has total 2.41 lakh voters. While there are around 48,000 voters in the age group 22 to 30, a major chunk of 64,000 voters are aged between 31 and 40, taking the total to close to 50% of the electorate.
Political parties are pinning hopes on encashing this segment of voters as they could also influence their families for casting votes in favour of a particular party. The BJP has targeted youth right from the announcement of the poll and roped them in for its campaign, while the TRS is confident that the spree of welfare schemes such as Rythu Bandhu, Dalit Bandhu and other benefits which reached every family would help it secure comfortable majority. The Congress on its part is eyeing its traditional vote bank which enabled its candidate K. Rajgopal Reddy, who recently switched loyalty to the BJP, win the election despite a TRS wave in the previous elections.
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Polling stations
Polling will be held in 298 polling stations, including 105 critical polling stations, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and the election authority has deployed 1,192 polling personnel along with 3,366 State police and 15 companies of central forces for peaceful conduct of the bypoll. The Election Commission of India had reportedly decided to deploy more central forces in the constituency following the alleged scuffle between the activists of the TRS and the BJP during the rallies taken out by them on Tuesday resulting in injuries to several people.
The intensity with which the parties are trying to allure voters can be seen from the seizure of huge cash and liquor in the run up to the bypoll. The election authority seized ₹6.8 crore in cash and 4,560 litres of liquor registering 185 cases in the process since the announcement of the election.
Electronic voting machines are being used in all the polling stations and arrangements had been made for webcasting the polling proceedings. Amid complaints over distribution of money and liquor to lure voters, the election authority had closed over 110 belt shops and set up 100 check-posts to prevent entry of unauthorised men and material into the constituency.