Nalgonda: The stage is set for polling in the byelection to Munugode Assembly Constituency in this district of Telangana on Thursday.
Though 47 candidates are in the fray, the main fight will be between Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy of BJP, Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy from TRS, and Palvai Sravanthi Reddy of the Congress.
A total of 2.41 lakh electorate including 1.20 lakh women are expected to cast their votes at 298 polling stations including 35 in urban areas, where arrangements are in place to webcast the process.
Polling will begin at 7 a.m. and end at 6 p.m.
The counting of votes will be taken up on November 6.
There are 105 polling stations classified as critical while 1,192 polling personnel in addition to over 300 in reserve have been drafted, according to election authorities.
A total of 3,366 State police personnel and 15 companies of the Central Paramilitary forces have been deployed for the smooth conduct of the polling.
Besides, around 100 check posts were erected and 198 police teams are on the ground to check any unauthorized movement of men and material during the polling process, the authorities said.
State’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vikas Raj, had earlier said that so far 185 cases of model code violations have been registered and Rs 6.8 crore in cash and 4,560 liters of liquor were seized.
As many as 479 complaints filed by political parties are being examined by the Election Commission.
As part of the election process, 821 persons with criminal antecedents had been bound over and 111 belt shops were closed down.
The bypoll was necessitated after sitting MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy had resigned from the Congress party to join the BJP in August.
