Hyderabad: A total of 75.88% of 52 lakh voters across 116 municipalities in the state exercised their franchise in the second ordinary elections to municipalities and municipal corporations on Wednesday. In the municipal corporations, the voting percentage stood at 66.05%.Four urban local bodies (ULBs) — Choutuppal and Pochampally from Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district, Chandur from Nalgonda, and Jinnaram from Sangareddy — recorded over 90% voting. Meanwhile, Nandikonda in Nalgonda district was the only ULB to record less than 60% polling.Among the seven municipal corporations notified for the elections, Nalgonda recorded the highest voting percentage at 77.36%, while Nizamabad recorded the lowest at 59.12%. Both municipalities and municipal corporations registered an overall voting percentage of 73.01%.“The elections went off smoothly across the state. There will be no repolling at any booth, and no major instances were reported,” said I Rani Kumudini, State Election Commissioner. She added that webcasting helped maintain law and order and ensured the conduct of free and fair elections.Across the state, all district collectors used webcasting to monitor the voting process under their jurisdiction. “CCTV cameras were installed in all 80 polling stations across the two municipalities, and the polling process was continuously monitored via webcasting from the control room set up at the collectorate. In the six sensitive or problematic polling areas identified, 17 micro-observers were appointed to ensure peaceful polling,” said Satya Sharada, collector, Warangal.Meanwhile, several political leaders, including chief minister A Revanth Reddy and the health minister Damodar Raja Narasimha, cast their votes at their respective municipalities. Though major incidents were not reported anywhere in the state, mild tensions prevailed at various polling stations.In the 58th division of Karimnagar town, police resorted to a lathi charge after two groups clashed at a polling station. The clash reportedly occurred after a woman complained that her vote had already cast by someone else. Similarly, in Nagarkurnool, tension prevailed in the 15th ward after BRS leaders accused Congress leaders of encouraging bogus voting.Likewise, in Edulapuram Municipality in Khammam, workers of two parties clashed while polling was underway. After polling concluded, ballot boxes were shifted to strong rooms across the state. Counting will be conducted on Friday.
