Curtains to come down on LS poll campaigning today
Hyderabad: Campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections in Telangana will come to a close on Tuesday evening. In 16 parliament segments, barring a few in Maoist affected areas, campaigning will come to a close at 5 pm but in Nizamabad, political parties and independents will have time till 6 pm to hold meetings, road shows, rallies etc, while in Maoist affected areas, the campaigning is set to end at 4 pm.
Telangana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Rajat Kumar said that all arrangements have been done in 17 Lok Sabha segments for the April 11 election.
Polling in 16 Lok Sabha segments will be conducted from 7 am to 5 pm, while in Nizamabad it will be held from 8 am to 6 pm. In Maoist affected areas, polling timings are from 7 am to 4 pm.
He said that voters, whose names are in electoral rolls, have to produce either EPIC or any of the 11 documents like passport/driving licence/service ID card/bank passbook/PAN card/MNREGA job card/Aadhaar card etc. to cast their vote.
People coming with just photo voter slips and no EPIC should compulsorily show any of the 11 listed documents to exercise their franchise.
He said that overall 2.97 crore voters in Telangana are eligible to cast their vote in Lok Sabha elections. The voters' break-up includes 1.49 crore males, 1.47 crore female voters and 1,504 transgender voters.
Rajat Kumar said that total number of polling stations stand at 34,604 across Telangana. The CEO said that live webcasting would be done in 4,169 polling stations while video recording would be done in all polling stations.
He said that CCTVs are being installed in various polling stations in Nizamabad in view of the presence of a big number of polling agents. Rajat Kumar said that MCC was being strictly implemented. 579 cases have been booked under the paid news category.
Also, 1,435 cases have been booked after receiving complaints on C-Vigil app. Until now, total seizures touched Rs 52.62 crore. He said that election campaigning in news channels should also close by Tuesday 5 pm.
No selfies allowed: CEO
Rajat Kumar said that strict action including imprisonment would be taken if anyone attempts to take a selfie in the polling booth.
He said that those who cast their vote can take their selfies after stepping out of polling station premises without any objections but violating rules at the time of voting would attract strict punishment, he said in no uncertain terms.
The CEO said that public holiday has been declared for the public and private sector on April 11 on account of polling and action would be taken against anyone found to violate instructions, he said.
Meanwhile, the office of Telangana CEO prepared a special Audio Visual (AV) clip highlighting the steps being facilitated for easy voting in Nizamabad polling stations, where 185 candidates are in the electoral fray. This clip has been posted on various social media platforms for wider reach.