Hyderabad: Council polls end peacefully; over 90pc voting registered

Hyderabad: The teachers' fraternity showed enthusiasm in electing their representative in Council as over 90 percent polling was registered for the Hyderabad-Ranga Reddy-Mahabubnagar constituency, which ended peacefully on Monday. The counting would take place on March 16.

According to the Election Commission authorities, 90.4 percent voting was registered in the election which began at 8 am and ended at 4 pm. The voters standing in the queues till 4 pm were allowed to vote. During the previous occasion, the polling percentage was over 82 percent. The authorities said that the polling was peaceful in almost all the polling stations. The voting percentage by 2 pm was 75 percent including 64 percent in Mahabubnagar, 81 percent in Nagarkurnool, 74 percent in Wanaparthy, 88 per cent in Gadwal, 81 percent in Narayanpet, 65 in Rangareddy, 79 percent in Vikarabad, 68 in Medchal and Hyderabad.

There were 21 candidates in the fray in the election and a total of 29,720 teachers were registered voters, and 137 polling stations, including 22 in Hyderabad were arranged for the smooth conduct of polling. The EC had made all arrangements for smooth conduct of the polling by having flying squads and static surveillance teams to ensure the model code of conduct was followed. The ruling BRS stayed from contesting the election and supported G Chenna Keshav Reddy, who is also backed by the Progressive Recognised Teachers Union-TS (PRTU-TS). The BJP has declared support to A Venkata Narayan Reddy, while the Congress has extended support to Gali Harshavardhan Reddy. Janardhan Reddy, who won the teachers' constituency in 2017, was retiring and contesting as a rebel candidate from PRTUTS as an Independent, and Manik Reddy is also in the fray as independent with the support of the United Teachers' Federation.

The counting would take place on Thursday. The ballot boxes were placed in the strong rooms in Saroornagar Indoor Stadium after the election process was completed.