Nizamabad goes to polls today

Nizamabad: The residents of the district are all set to decide the fate of the political parties and candidates contesting in the municipal polls to be held on Wednesday.

People will vote for the establishment of Kamareddy, Armor, Bhanswada, Bhodan, Bheamgal, and Yellareddy municipalities in erstwhile Nizamabad district. They will cast their vote in the elections for Nizamabad Municipal Corporation. There are 779 candidates in the fray.

In Nizamabad district, 4, 36 887 voters are going to exercise their franchise. A total of 621 polling stations have been set up to conduct elections in 146 wards of the Nizamabad Municipal Corporation and three other municipalities in the district. As many as 5, 26, 000 ballot papers have been printed.

In all 14,000 postal ballot papers have also been distributed to employees.

Polling stations have been categorized based on past experiences to make it easier for the police. Apart from Nizamabad, the remaining municipalities include 5 critical polling stations, 126 hyper sensitive, 162 sensitive and 328 normal polling stations. Web casting of the poll process will be done in 100 polling stations.

Around 735 persons were appointed by the Presiding and Assistant Presiding Officers, 2205 other polling staff and 107 micro-observers.

In view of the elections, the district administration had closed all liquor shops in the municipalities limits from 5 pm on Monday evening till the elections are over. Steps have been taken to prevent the distribution of money in elections. The poll officials seized Rs 5.27 lakh accounted money during the past week.

Candidates and party representatives should keep in mind that the MCC may face difficulties during the polls, Collector Narayana Reddy urged.

He also appealed for cooperation to keep the elections peaceful.

Ten more MCC teams have been deployed. The Collector said the rules would be strictly followed until Wednesday evening, or at the end of polling. The Collector said the voter slips were distributed for the convenience of voters, explaining the location of the municipal polling stations.

Narayana Reddy said that if the voter's identity card or 18 other identity cards are shown and the name is on the voters' list, they can vote. He suggested that every eligible voter should take part in election and come forward to select the candidate of his choice.

The help desk will also guide the voter.

Kamareddy....

There are 1,18,448 voters in three municipalities in the Kamareddy district. The State Election Commission has deployed 1,130 people as polling staff.

In the three municipalities of Kamareddy, Yellareddy and Banswada in Kamareddy district, 361 candidates from all 80 wards are contesting elections. In Kamareddy Municipality, 238 candidates are contesting from 49 wards. In all 126 polling stations have been set up.

In Ellareddy Municipality, there are 57 candidates contesting for 12 wards and 24 polling stations have been set up for the elections. There are 66 candidates in the 19 wards of Banswada Municipality and there are 38 polling stations.