Representative image of votes being counted by officials. (Photo: PTI)
A total of A personnel were deployed for fair and peaceful conduct of elections. Special arrangements were made in districts affected by left-wing extremism, the authorities said. Barring a few stray incidents, voting went off peacefully, officials said.
Ministers Jagadish Reddy, Srinivas Goud and Niranjan Reddy and Telangana Congress chief and Lok Sabha member Uttam Kumar Reddy and his wife Padamvathi were among the prominent leaders who cast their votes in their respective urban bodies.
In a first-of-its-kind step in the country, the commission used a facial recognition app on Wednesday in a bid to counter impersonation of voters. Ten polling stations in Kompally Municipality of Medchal Malkajgiri district were selected for the pilot project.
The state police said it took all measures for maintaining law and order during the polling. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi working president and Minister K T Rama Rao exuded confidence about his party winning a lion’s share of wards and divisions. Both Congress and BJP, which failed to put up a good show in the rural local bodies elections held last year, were keen to prove their strength this time.
TRS General Secretary P Rajeshwar Reddy said after the polls that the people of Telangana would continue to show their faith in the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led government and elect a majority of the party candidates in the municipal elections.
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