Telangana Elections LIVE : As polling nears end in 119 constituencies, Telangana recorded a Final Voter Turnout Of 73.2 %

As polling nears end in 119 constituencies, Telangana recorded a Final Voter Turnout Of 73.2 %.

–After Jwala Gutta, IPS Officer’s Name Missing;

–Manish Sisodia Slams EC

56.17% Turnout Till 3 PM; Sania Mirza Casts Vote In Hyderabad

PV Sindhu after casting her vote In Hyderabad

48.1 per cent voter turnout till 1 PM in Telangana.

8.97% Voter Turnout Till 9 AM

As many as 1,821 candidates including a transgender are in the fray in the election.

For the first time, Election Commission is using Voters Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in Telangana.

224 video-surveillance teams and 133 video-viewing teams have been pressed into service.

Polling will start at 7 am and end at 5 pm, while in 13 constituencies which were classified as Left Wing Extremist-affected, polling ends one hour before (4 pm).

The TRS, seeking a second term in office, is going alone, as also the BJP.

The Congress has stitched together “Prajakutami” (People’s Front) along with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS) and the CPI to take on the ruling TRS, led by caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR).

The assembly polls in Telangana were originally scheduled to be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections next year, but the House was dissolved on September 6 as per a recommendation by the state cabinet.

Security was beefed up at bordering areas which were identified as Left Wing Extremist-affected regions.

One lakh police personnel including 25,000 central paramilitary forces and 20,000 from other states are engaged in poll duties.

Campaigning by political parties came to an end at 5 pm Wednesday.

Over 2.80 crore electorate are eligible to exercise their franchise in the State, which has a total of 32,815 polling stations across.

More than 1.50 lakh polling officials including reserve staff are in the process of giving final touches Thursday to make the election to the 119-member House a smooth affair.

After a high-voltage campaign that saw war of words among contending parties, voting for the Assembly elections in Telangana will begin on Friday with the Congress-led alliance challenging the ruling TRS, and the BJP seeking to make it a triangular contest.

India’s youngest state, Telangana, goes to polls on Friday, 7 December, to constitute its second Legislative Assembly. The single-phase polling will see voting in all 119 constituencies.

The main contenders for this election remain to be the KCR-led TRS, which was in power for the last four years, and the Congress-led ‘Mahakutami’ (or ‘Grand Alliance’), which included the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) among many others.

Telangana is going to polls nearly seven months earlier as the TRS government dissolved the Assembly before its term ended
The Congress is considered the main Opposition in the state and is leading a grand alliance called ‘Mahakutami or Prajakutami’
TRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao will remain the caretaker chief minister till the new government is formed

What You Must Know About Telangana Polls 2018

What Do the Pre-poll Surveys Say?

The Aaj Tak-India Today survey predicts a massive victory for the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), with 43 percent voters predicted to cast their ballot for the KCR party. The Congress, on the other hand, is expected to garner 18 percent of vote share.

Interestingly, 11 percent of those surveyed wanted KCR to be the next prime minister, while 44 percent voted for PM Narendra Modi and 39 percent for Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

Another survey conducted by VDP Associates, claims that the TRS is all set to win at least 80 seats, while the Congress is expected to win around 20 seats. The survey predicts that the BJP will win seven seats, with the AIMIM getting eight.

The Main Contenders in Battlefield Telangana

The BJP, although not a main contender, is expected to swing some percentage of vote share its way. In all, there are now as many as nine political parties vying for power in the state.

Early Polls in Telangana

A united Andhra Pradesh has voted for both state Assembly and the Lok Sabha at the same time — from 1999 till 2014. However, since August 2018, media reports suggested that KCR was getting ‘battle-ready’ to dissolve the Assembly and go to polls in winter 2018, along with Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram.

KCR dissolved the Telangana Assembly on 6 September, his supposed ‘lucky’ date.

Hours after dissolving the Assembly, he released a list of 105 candidates who will fight the elections from Husnabad, the very place he launched his 2014 campaign.

Disclaimer: RSS has been taken from their official website.

Telangana gyaan: Why is pink the colour of the TRS?

HIGHLIGHTS

Friday’s election in Telangana is one of a series of 5 recent state polls
They’re widely seen as a semi-final before the Lok Sabha election
Results of the assembly polls will be out on December 11

How many shades of pink are there? You could do a Google image search and marvel at the little panels that pop up.

Or, you could simply head to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi’s (TRS) Twitter page.

Scarves, caps, vehicles and even a mic resembling a cone of strawberry ice cream — it’s all a little overwhelming. But why is the party of K Chandrashekhar Rao, the caretaker chief minister, smitten with the colour of flamingoes and romance?

It represents peace and love. That’s what Vinod Kumar, a TRS MP, has been quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.

And this, he added, is why the TRS chose it in 2001, when Chandrashkhar Rao began the movement for a separate state (separate from Andhra Pradesh, that is).

Chandrashekhar Rao, 64, often simply known as “KCR”, faces an assembly on Friday, December 5. The results of an India Today survey contain good news for the TRS: 48 per cent of respondents backed the current government, up from 44 per cent last month.

Standing in Rao’s way is an alliance between the Congress and three other parties: The Telugu Desam Party, the Communist Party of India and the Telangana Jana Samithi. The BJP is also contesting the election, in all 119 seats.

Will Hyderabad’s streets be awash in pink on counting day? Well, we’ll have to wait and see. (December 11: Mark your calendars.)

But one thing’s for sure: India’s political parties are quickly running out of colours. Think about it: Saffron? BJP. Red? CPI-M. Green? JD-S and AIMIM. Blue? BSP. Yellow? TDP.

At this rate, we may soon have to look beyond the visible spectrum of light!

TRS a committed party, says Diwakar Rao

Ours is a corruption-free and committed party. No one can fault governance of the TRS, says Diwakar.

TRS candidate from Mancherial Assembly constituency Nadipelli Diwakar Rao said around 50,000 people belonging to the constituency had benefited from various welfare schemes implemented by the TRS government in the last four years.

Speaking to the media here on Thursday, Diwakar said Aasara pension amount was going to be raised, besides offering unemployment allowance to jobless if the TRS was voted to power again. He added that the newly formed State had seen a remarkable growth and attracted investments worth thousands of crores.

The former legislator listed out some of the development works taken up by him during his tenure: Bridge across the Godavari from Mancherial to Anthargaon, Widening of Mandamarri-Mancherial road, flyover between High-tech City and Hamaliwada of the town and beautification of Mancherial town, all costing nearly Rs 300 crore.

“We have developed the constituency on many fronts. No party can find an irregularity to criticise our performance. Ours is a corruption-free and committed party. No one can fault governance of the TRS,” he stated, adding that he had told the police to book cases against 18 persons for grabbing land. He exuded confidence that voters would elect him as a legislator for the fourth time and help the party form the government.

The candidate further said youngsters were being attracted to the TRS and were joining the party in large numbers from the recent past.

He, earlier, organised a door-to-door campaign in Itikyala of Luxettipet and requested electors to cast their votes to him. He criticised the Congress for faulting the TRS schemes and said people would teach the opposition party a lesson in the coming elections.

Former MLC Laxman Naradasu, Mancherial TRS party in-charge A Nageshwar Rao, municipal chairperson M Vasundhara and many others were present.

Disclaimer: RSS has been taken from their official website.

Biggest Qualcomm project outside US to generate 10,000 jobs in Telangana

Even as the Assembly elections near, another major investment has come knocking on Telangana’s door. Qualcomm Telecommunications on Saturday announced that it would set up its largest campus outside the United States in Hyderabad, investing `3,000 crore for the project and creating 10,000 employment opportunities. The firm has proposed to start construction work in 2019.

Delegates from Qualcomm called on caretaker IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao to discuss plans of starting operations in Hyderabad. “Qualcomm will invest $400 million to set up their campus in Hyderabad. This is one of the largest investments by a marquee company after the formation of the State,” an official release said.

The proposed campus will focus on driving technology leadership in 5G, IoT and mobile platforms research, Rama Rao said. Phase-1 of the project will stand on a built-up space of 1.7 million sq ft, housing about 10,000 employees, Qualcomm engineering vice-president Shashi Reddy and director for operations Chandra Shekar Kumili informed the TRS leader. Qualcomm plays a key role in driving the wireless revolution by making mobile communications accessible and affordable.

The Qualcomm facility in Hyderabad will be its largest campus globally after its San Diego headquarters. Qualcomm, a world leader in 5G technology, is working on the next big change in cellular technology and aiming at creating a new era of intelligent devices focusing on remote delivery of healthcare services and IoT.

IT Minister Rama Rao noted that by setting up a mega-campus in Hyderabad, its largest globally after the HQ in San Diego, Qualcomm had joined the elite list of companies that had their largest presence globally outside their headquarters in Hyderabad. “We have Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Facebook and now Qualcomm. The list will only get bigger as there are a few more companies that have evinced interest and we are working actively with them,” Rama Rao said.

Disclaimer: RSS has been taken from their official website.