Mikes fall silent, campaign ends in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, keen tussle on anvil

HYDERABAD: The campaigning phase of the Lok Sabha and one Assembly by-election in Telangana and simultaneous elections in Andhra Pradesh came to an end at 6 pm on Saturday. However, a door-to-door campaign is allowed by ECI till 10 pm on Sunday.

Polling will begin at 7 am on May 13 and will end at 6 pm. Polling will end at 4 pm in 13 Maoist-affected Assembly Constituencies in five Lok Sabha Constituencies. To encourage voters to cast their votes, the Government declared May 13 as a holiday.

In all 525 candidates are in fray for the 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana. ECO ordered webcasting in 33,000 out of the 35,000 polling booths in the State. Wine shops will also remain closed from 6 pm on Saturday till the polling process is over.

Section 144 in force: CEO

Telangana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vikas Raj has said that section 144 will be in force from 6 pm on May 11 all through the State. He said that no canvassing will be allowed in electronic media from 6 pm on Saturday.

He warned action on several official establishments that refused to declare a holiday for their staff on Monday. He urged outsiders staying in marriage halls, community halls, and hotels to vacate and leave.

“In Secunderabad Cantonment by-election we have arranged 232 polling stations. All the vans transporting EVMs will have GPS to track them. So far we have seized Rs 320 crore of unaccounted cash,” he said.

Telangana Police ensures foolproof security: DGP

DGP Ravi Gupta in a statement here said that elaborate police arrangements have been put in place. He said that to ensure the sanctity of the electoral process and to uphold peace and order during the polling activities, the Telangana State Police has made comprehensive security arrangements.

He said that this comprises a strategic deployment of various law enforcement agencies, including 73,414 ranks of civil police, 500 sections of TS special police, 164 Companies of CRPF, 3 companies of Tamil Nadu SAP, 2,088 ranks from other departments, and 7,000 Home Guards sourced from other states.

DGP reiterated that with strict adherence to the Model Code of Conduct, the police have established a network of security checkpoints encompassing 482 Fixed Static Teams (FSTs), 462 Static Surveillance Teams (SSTs), 89 Inter-State Border Check posts, and 173 Inter-District Check Posts.

Fight between BRS-BJP

On the political side, the campaign witnessed the bouncing back of the BRS after its recent debacle in the Assembly elections. The Congress which hoped for a cakewalk has been pushed to a third position in many of the 17 Lok Sabha Constituencies giving space to the BJP and the BRS.

While the 17-day ‘Poru Baata Bus Yatra’ of the BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao helped in the revival of the chances of the BRS, failure to implement six guarantees became an Achilles heel for the Congress. The BJP on the other hand depended heavily on its star campaigner Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

The presence of former bureaucrats Praveen Kumar and Venkatrami Redd in the fray also made the contest interesting.

Andhra Pradesh

Similarly campaigning for 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in the fourth phase of Andhra Pradesh ended in Andhra Pradesh.

In a statement, Chief Electoral Officer Mukesh Kumar Meena informed that the ECI has taken every precaution for free and fair polling.

He said that the ECI imposed Section 144 Cr.P.C. across the State during the Silence Period and no election campaigns, public meetings, rallies, or any other political activities would be allowed.

In all 454 candidates are in fray for the 25 Lok Sabha seats and 2,387 candidates are contesting for 175 Assembly seats in the State.

YSRCP gives a tough fight to NDA

Emboldened by the region-wise ‘Siddham’ public meetings the YSRCP jumped into the ring with the backing of the beneficiaries. The delay in the announcement of candidates on the part of the TDP-JSP-BJP combine also helped the YSRCP to consolidate its position.

The contest in Andhra Pradesh became more interesting with Nara Chandrababu Naidu, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, Pawan Kalyan, and Nara Lokesh in the fray. The battle between APCC chief YS Sharmila and her cousin YS Avinash Reddy for the Kadapa MP seat also pumped up the heat in simultaneous AP elections.