Hyderabad, April 23 (IANS) Polling was underway for electing the Member of Telangana Legislative Council from the Hyderabad local authorities’ constituency on Wednesday.
About 80 per cent of polling was recorded till noon in the election, which is witnessing a direct contest between Bharatiya Janata Party’s N Gautham Rao and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s Mirza Riyaz Ul Hassan Effendi.
A total of 112 voters, including corporators, MPs, MLAs, and MLCs from the Hyderabad district, are eligible to cast their votes.
AIMIM party President and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi and his party legislators were among the first to cast their votes at the polling stations located at the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) head office.
With 49 votes (seven MLAs, one MLC, one Lok Sabha MP and 40 corporators), the AIMIM is in strong position and with the support of Congress, which has 14, it is likely to win the seat comfortably.
The BJP, which has 29 votes, fielded its candidate to force a contest, whose result will be significant ahead of the elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) due early next year.
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which has 20 votes, issued a whip to its voters asking them to abstain from casting their ballots.
The BJP has alleged that the Congress and the BRS stayed away from the contest with the sole aim of defeating the BJP and ensuring the victory of the AIMIM.
However, the BRS leaders maintained that their party maintained equal distance from both the BJP and the AIMIM.
The AIMIM was an ally of the BRS when the latter was in power between 2014 and 2023. After Congress came to power, the AIMIM became friendly to the Congress.
The Election Commission has set up two polling stations at the GHMC headquarters and deployed necessary staff. About 200 to 250 policemen and about 500 officers and staff were on election duty.
The counting of votes will be taken up on April 25.
–IANS
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