Telangana : Over 60% polling in Munugode by-poll till 3 pm

Polling underway amid tight security in the bypoll to Munugode Assembly constituency in Telangana on Thursday.

Hyderabad : Over 60 per cent polling was reported till 3 pm in the by-poll to the Munugode Assembly constituency in Telangana on Thursday. The polling had been peaceful with no major law and order issue being reported. Officials rectified technical issues in EVMs at a couple of places.

Congress candidate Palvai Sravanthi complained to election authorities that false news was being spread about her on social media with a morphed photo. State Chief Electoral Officer Vikas Raj said the Congress candidate's complaint will be looked into. BJP candidate Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy alleged that the TRS government has been misusing official machinery in the constituency.
Polling got underway amid tight security at 7 AM and will continue till 6 PM. Over 2.41 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the election.

There are a total of 298 polling stations and web casting was being done from all of them. Of the total, 105 booths have been identified as 'critical.' The Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements for polling, including deployment of 3,366 state police and 15 companies of central security personnel.

The by-poll has been necessitated by the resignation of sitting Congress MLA Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy from the party and from his post in August. He has joined the BJP and is seeking re-election. While 47 candidates are in the fray, the main contest is between Raj Gopal Reddy (BJP), former MLA Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy of TRS and Congress' Palvai Sravanthi. The by-poll has assumed political significance as the winner would have an edge over the others ahead of next year's Assembly polls in Telangana.