■ l 226 polling stations have been identified as critical

■ l 1,761 police force have been deployed as part of election bandobust

■ l Live streaming of poll will be arranged at all polling stations

■ l 58 candidates in the fray

Metro India News | Hyderabad 

The high-octane campaign to the Jubilee Hills Assembly constituency bypoll ended on Sunday. Polling is scheduled for November 11 and the votes will be counted on November 14. The bypoll is necessitated by the death of BRS MLA Maganti Gopinath in June this year.

While BJP fielded Deepak Reddy, Gopinath's widow Sunita is the BRS candidate. The ruling Congress' candidate is Naveen Yadav who is also supported by the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Commissioner R V Karnan, who is the Hyderabad District Election Officer, told reporters that 226 polling stations have been identified as “critical” out of the total of 407 polling stations.

As many as 1,761 police force have been deployed as part of election bandobust, besides 8 companies of central paramilitary forces (CISF) will be deployed, Joint Commissioner of Police, (Law & Order, Co-ordination) Tafseer Iqubal said. Given the large number of candidates (58) in the fray, EVMs consisting of 1 Control Unit, 4 Ballot Units and 1 VVPAT are provided to all the polling stations, he said.

The officials further said a total of 27 cases of model code of conduct (MCC) violations were filed. The by-poll has assumed significance with Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy leading an intense campaign in the constituency for several days, unprecedented for a CM in a by-election. Not only the chief minister, but the ruling Congress has deployed its all ministers for the campaign.

Union Coal Minister G Kishan Reddy, Union MoS (Home) Bandi Sanjay Kumar and senior BRS leaders, including K T Rama Rao, have also been canvassing in the constituency in support of their party candidates almost daily, undertaking 'padayatras', road shows and street corner meetings. The total number of voters in the Jubilee Hills assembly constituency is 4.01 lakh, including 2,08,561 male, 1,92,779 female and 25 transgender voters. Muslims, with an estimated population of one lakh in the constituency, would play a decisive role in the outcome of the bypoll.