Telangana sees 64% polling till 5 pm, no major violence reported

With an estimated 63.94 per cent voter turnout in an election where exit poll results were trying to seal the fate of parties even before all the ballot boxes were sealed, Telangana witnessed what is widely considered the fiercest poll battle since its formation.

The ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi was trying to retain power for a consecutive third term in the state, while the opposition Congress mounted an all-out effort to unseat the incumbent.

Keen on forming its government, the Bharatiya Janata Party has also conducted an elaborate campaign with a host of top party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing rallies in the state.

The BRS has been in power since 2014 when the previous UPA government at the Centre carved Telangana out of Andhra Pradesh.

The election was peaceful except for a few incidents of minor skirmishes.

Telivision channel visuals showed party workers of the BRS and the Congress arguing with each other at some polling stations in districts. However, police later dispersed them.

The polling began at 7 am amid tight security and it concluded at 4 pm in 13 Left Wing Extremism-affected constituencies, while the process ended at 5 pm in the 106 other segments.

However, those who were in queue at closing time were allowed to cast their vote.

The counting of votes would be taken up on December 3.

Dismissing some survey reports that BRS is going to lose, party working president KaT Rama Rao, son of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, expressed confidence about the party's win.

"I promise you, for those of you, who are friends of BRS and want KCR to come back from the state. I promise you on December 3 we are coming back. We are coming back anywhere between 70+ seats (out of the total 119 segments)," he said.

Though the BRS expected to win 88 seats, it will get over 70 seats in view of "some problems here and there".

CM KCR is contesting from two segments-- Gajwel and Kamareddy. He represents Gajwel in the outgoing Legislative Assembly.

Kamareddy and Gajwel are witnessing exciting contests.

Congress has fielded its state president Revanth Reddy to take on the chief minister in Kamareddy, while BJP candidate Venkata Ramana Reddy is no pushover either.

In Gajwel, the BJP has deployed its election campaign chairman Eatala Rajender against CM Rao.

Union Minister and state BJP president G Kishan Reddy on Thursday alleged that the ruling BRS and the Congress violated the model code of conduct by distributing money and liquor to lure the voters though the officials of Election Commission made appreciable efforts to conduct the poll "properly".

The Election Commission needed to act in a more tough manner, he said.

He alleged that the police, though they are under the control of the Commission, functioned as if they are under the influence of BRS and CM KCR and remained helpless though distribution of money on a massive scale took place at many places.

Observing that BJP activists did an appreciable job despite working under pressure, he expressed confidence that the BJP would get good results in the election.

State Congress president A Revanth Reddy exuded confidence that his party would win the elections.

The BRS would not not get more than 25 seats, he claimed.

All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi hoped that his party would win all the nine seats it is contesting.

As part of his campaign, PM Modi addressed rallies for three days in a row in the state, including at Kamareddy, Nirmal, Maheswaram, and Karimnagar, besides holding a massive roadshow in the state capital.

Besides Modi, a host of senior BJP leaders--Union Ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma, Maharashtra deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, former Karnataka chief minister B S Yediyurappa and Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai -- participated in the party's campaign in the state.

For the BRS, CM KCR addressed as many as 96 public meetings during the campaign

The Congress had come up with an elaborate and meticulous campaign.

The grand old party's campaign was led by its leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Revanth Reddy.

As on November 29, law enforcement agencies have seized cash, gold, liquor, freebies among others all worth about Rs 759 crore in the state ever since the model code of conduct came into force in the state on October 9, an official release said.