Simultaneous voting for both Lok Sabha and the State Assembly was peaceful and recorded 68 percent of voter turnout in Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh on 30 April, said the Election Commission. As per the reports, Medak and Nalgonda districts in Telangana recorded the maximum voting till 5 pm.
Strong security was in place in Naxal-hit districts of the Telangana. Polling, which began at 7 am, was held to both Lok Sabha and the State Assembly in 10 districts of the region on Wednesday.
Telangana has 17 Lok Sabha seats and 119 Assembly seats. Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), Congress, BJP-Telugu Desam Party combine, are the main contenders in the region.
TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, Lok Satta national president Jayaprakash Narayan Congress' Telangana unit president Ponnala Lakshmaiah, working president Uttam Kumar Reddy, former deputy chief minister Damodar Rajanarasimha, former state ministers Geeta Reddy and D Sridhar Babu are among the key contestants in the proposed 29th state of India.
Eminent personalities K Chiranjeevi, who is the Union Tourism Minister, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, business women Shailaja Kiran, Jana Sena founder and actor Pawan Kalyan, Jnanapeet Award winner litterateur C Narayana Reddy, Tollywood's celebrities - Balakrishna, producer D Rama Naidu, writer Parchuri Gopalakrishna, young hero Nitin were among the voters who exercised their franchise. However, Chiranjeevi faced an embarrassment when voters objected him for jumping the queue to vote in Hyderabad.
Like BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, who flashed his party symbol Lotus at the booth and invited controversy, his alliance partner in Andhra Pradesh, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu also invited electoral officer's adverse comments after announcing that he (Naidu) and his family have voted to BJP.
Naidu's disclosure of his voting prompted the Chief Electoral Officer, Bhanvarlal to state that Naidu's franchise would become invalid. In turn, the TDP complained to Election Commission (EC) stating that Bhanvarlal's comments were unwarranted as Naidu revealed about his franchise beyond 100 metres distance of the polling booth, where he cast his vote.
Bhanvarlal said that as per the 1961 Act, voter should not reveal about his voting near the polling booth. And if eminent person like Naidu reveals about his franchise, that would definitely influence the voters, Bhanvarlal stated.
(Ed:AJ)
