The bypoll in Huzurabad Assembly Constituency, Telangana, witnessed a record 86.33 percent voter turnout by 7 PM.
Thirty candidates are contesting in this bypoll that was necessitated by the resignation of Eatala Rajender, the ex-Minister from TRS. Mr. Eatala joined the BJP after alleging the TRS government of harassment, while the TRS accused him of land grabbing.
The key candidates threatening Eatala Rajender’s re-election are Gellu Srinivas Yadav from TRS and Balmoori Venkat Narsing Rao from Congress. Mr. Eatala won this constituency four times since 2009.
Speaking to the Press, Chief Electoral Officer Shashank Goyal detailed how masks and sanitizers were made available at the polling stations to ensure ‘safe polling.’
Acknowledging that a few EVM’s had given trouble early in the day, Mr. Goyal said they were fixed soon by the engineers from Bharat Electronics Limited.
Meanwhile, TRS complained to the Chief Election Commissioner of India that the BJP candidate Eatala Rajender spoke to the Press at Polling Booth no. 262 in violation of election guidelines and submitted the names of two channels that broadcasted the candidate’s speech.
Mr. Eatala alleged that the ruling TRS has spent hundreds of crores to win the election in his constituency.