Polling in district to conclude by 4 pm

Kothagudem: Polling in all the 999 polling stations spread in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district will be completed one hour earlier than the usual time.

Out of the 13 Maoist-affected constituencies in Telangana five Assembly constituencies; Pinapaka, Bhadrachalam, Kothagudem, Yellandu and Aswaraopet are in the district.

The polling that will commence at 7 am will be concluded at 4pm, District Collector Rajat Kumar Saini informed here on Thursday. He said all arrangements for smooth and fair conduct of polls on Friday have been made. According to him as many as 4,404 polling personnel have been deployed to conduct polls. As many as 500 polling stations will be monitored by digital surveillance teams. About 300 CCTV cameras have been installed while web casting will be done at 130 polling stations.

The election process will be monitored by 250 micro-observers. In all 8, 65, 886 voters, 4, 26, 430 male, 4, 39,357 female and others 99, will be casting their votes on Friday. They are 71 candidates in the fray; Pinpaka-16, Kothagudem-17, Bhadrachalam-10, Aswaraopet-12 and Yellandu-16.

In Kothagudem two ballot units will be used. Meanwhile, the police have taken CPI (Maoist) Manuguru-Paloncha areas committee secretary Perunagaram Rupa alias Sujathainto in their custody. She was arrested and sent to judicial remand on November 28 during vehicle inspections near Bhadrachalam.

The SP informed that Sujatha is taken into police custody to gather details regarding Maoist action teams in order to avoid any untoward incidents during the polling process. All possible efforts are being made to prevent the Maoists from committing violence acts, he added.

He said six companies of paramilitary forces and 3,200 policemen have been deployed to maintain law and order on the polling day. The police team includes 12 DSPs, 27 CIs and RIs, besides 300 home guards from Chhattisgarh.