Peaceful voting at 11 municipalities in Adilabad district

Polling in the 11 municipalities went off peacefully across erstwhile Adilabad district on Wednesday.

According to information provided by authorities concerned, nearly 80 per cent votes were polled till 5 pm, indicating a slight dip when compared with elections to Telangana Legislative Assembly in 2018.

Electors made a beeline to polling stations from 7 am, braving chilly weather conditions. The average polling percentage of all municipalities was below 10 per cent till 9 am. It rose to 30 per cent by 11 am. It reached nearly 50 per cent at 1 pm and crossed the 70 per cent mark at 5 pm when polling concluded.

Luxettipet Municipality saw 77.95 per cent voter turnout, while Bellampalli Municipality registered 78 per cent and Chennur recorded 75.08 per cent of turnout of electors. Adilabad civic body had voting by over 70 per cent. Nirmal, Bhainsa and Khanapur Municipalities recorded polling by around 75 per cent each. Kaghaznagar and Mancherial Municipalities witnessed polling above 70 per cent.

The turnout of electors was



comparatively lower than that of polls to Legislative Assembly. Except for Mancherial Assembly constituency and Nirmal segment that registered polling of 73.17 per cent of votes and 79.27 per cent, respectively, Sirpur (T), Chennur, Bellampalli, Adilabad, and Khanapur segments recorded over 80 per cent of voting in polls held in December, 2018.

The urban electors apparently were not interested in casting votes, despite widespread awareness on utilisation of right to vote by authorities. Polling stations wore a deserted look in the afternoon. Wheelchairs, drinking water and other basic amenities were created at the stations for the convenience of electors. Security arrangements were made for avoiding untoward incidents.

Collector Divya Devarajan, Superintendent of Police Vishnu S Warrier and Joint Collector G Sandhya Rani cast votes in a polling station at Sathnala quarters in Adilabad town. They urged electors to use their franchise, which was a weapon in democracy. They requested the voters not to be influenced by baits.