RR district records 78.52% voting in municipal elections

Rangareddy: With no untoward incident reported anywhere from the Ranga Reddy district, polling for the municipal elections in all six municipalities was peaceful and registered 78.52% voter turnout on Wednesday.

A total number of 437 candidates are in the foray from 126 wards spread over in the municipalities such as Amangal, Chevella, Moinabad, Ibrahimpatnam, Shankarpally and Shadnagar.

Amangal municipality, with least number of 15 wards, witnessed 84.74% voting followed by Chevella (80.92%), Moinabad (79.69%), Ibrahimpatnam (77.77%), Shankarpally (76.94%) and Shadnagar (75.7%). Surprisingly, the lowest voter turn-out was recorded from Shadnagar, which is the biggest among the municipalities, covering 28 wards. Although the voter turnout was high in the morning, it gradually dropped in the day while other municipalities picked-up pace during the same time. According to officials, 1,38,222 of total 1,76,023 voters enrolled in the municipalities voted by 5 pm.

Meanwhile, district collector C Narayan Reddy visited different polling stations. He was seen supervising the arrangements for smooth conduct of the polling. Reddy, who was accompanied by senior officials, interacted with officers and voters at various booths. The collector asked the polling staff to record the voting percentage from time to time in the prescribed format without leaving any scope of error. Reddy checked serial number in voter list during the visit to booths. He categorically said voters present in the polling station in time should be allowed to vote by 5 pm. However, Reddy said, none should be allowed inside the booth after 5 pm in any circumstances.