Palamuru districts record 75% voting

Mahbubnagar: The second phase elections for the MPTC and ZPTC posts that were held across erstwhile Mahbubnagar district witnessed a very good turnout as voters came in large numbers braving the heat and patiently standing in queues to cast their votes on Friday.

Across erstwhile Mahbubnagar, the second phase of elections were held to decide the fate of 26 ZPTC and 287 MPTC candidates. Over 7.8 lakh voters utilised their voting rights in the rural areas of Gadwal, Wanaparthy, Nagarkurnool, Narayanpet and Mahbubnagar districts.

In Nagarkurnool district as many as 20 candidates stood in fray to win five ZPTC seats. Similarly, 18 candidates each contested for four ZPTC seats in Gadwal and five ZPTC seats in Narayanpet districts.

Coming to MPTC seats, overall 906 candidates contested for 287 MPTC seats across erstwhile Mahbubnagar district. For 91 MPTC seats in Mahbubnagar, 288 candidates stood in fray. Similarly, for 52 MPTC seats in Nagarkurnool, 185 candidates contested in the second phase of elections. Likewise, 136 candidates entered into poll contest to win 43 MPTC seats in Wanaparthy district, while about 155 members from various parties competed for 47 seats in Gadwal district. In Narayanpet, 54 MPTC seats were contested by 162 candidates.

Meanwhile, with the heatwave prevailing in the districts for the last two days a low turnout was expected. However, braving the heat over 75 per cent of voters exercised their franchise on Friday.

Further, the District Collectors of Gadwal, Mahbubnagar and Nagarkurnool districts visited all major centres and sensitive polling stations to inspect the polling process. Gadwal District Collector K Shashank visited Ija, Manopad and other villages and took stock of voting process.

Similarly, Mahbubnagar Collector Ronald Rose visited Kothlabad, Koilkonda, Balanagar and other villages to inspect the voting process and gave instructions to the election officials from time to time to ensure peaceful and fair elections. "We have taken all necessary measures to ensure that voters do not face any problems during the day. Tents, water facility, seating arrangements for women, wheelchairs etc were arranged so that the physically-handicapped persons can also utilise their voting rights with ease," said Ronald Rose.