Tight security for Telangana elections
ELECTRONIC VOTER MACHINES, VOTER VERIFIABLE PAPER TRAIL UNITS WILL BE USED IN STATIONS FOR TODAY’S POLLS
The stage is set for state assembly elections in Telangana today with the Election Commission making unprecedented security arrangements to ensure free and fair polling at 32,815 polling stations across the state.
State director general of police Mahinder Reddy said that about 90,000 personnel were deployed as part of the security arrangements. They include 50,000 personnel of the state police, 20,000 members of the central para-military forces and 20,000 policemen from other states. Apart from providing material and security to polling personnel, police and paramilitary will also undertake patrolling and conduct flag-marches in sensitive areas and will also be responsible for safeguarding EVMs during transportation and at strongrooms where they will be kept till the day of counting.
Special focus was on the 13 sensitive constituencies bordering Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh states, which face threat of violence and disruption from Maoists.
For the first time, electronic voting machines along with the voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPATs) will be used in all polling stations. Webcasting was also arranged for close monitoring of proceedings in polling stations.
While in 2014 in the first elections in Telangana, 72 per cent of the electorate exercised their franchise, election authorities have undertaken extensive publicity campaign to increase the voting percentage this time. Specially in Hyderabad where the percentage was at a low of around 50 per cent, authorities were using social media to provide information and a road map to citizens about their respective polling stations.
All major political parties, after weeks of intense campaigning, are now focusing on poll management through booth-level committees to mobilise their supporters to get out of their homes today and vote.
For the first time the election commission is providing voter slips with photographs to registered voters well in advance. The process was still on in some areas.
Parties on edge
While all political parties remain on edge, anxiously awaiting the verdict of the people, Chief Minister K Chandrasekha Rao will perhaps be under the highest pressure to see if his gamble of going for early polls pays off.
In the normal course, assembly elections in the youngest state of India should have been held in May 2019 along with the Lok Sabha polls, but KCR decided to advance it by a few months and dissolved the House on September 6.
While the people’s judgement will be known on December 11 when the EVMs would be opened, guessing game was on about the possible outcome.
The contest, which started with the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti being the favourite, gradually turned into a close fight after the two major opposition parties Congress and Telugu Desam formed an unprecedented alliance roping in some smaller parties too.
The recent assessments and claims by analysts suggest TRS was still holding an edge. “It could be a 60-40 game in favour of TRS because of the welfare schemes and personal appeal of KCR”, one analyst said.