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Hyderabad: Twenty-two Covid-19 positive voters were among the over 800 public representatives who cast their ballots on Friday in the by-election to a seat of Telangana Legislative Council from the Nizamabad Local Authorities Constituency.
Wearing PPE kits, 22 voters came to the designated polling centres in the last hour to cast their ballot. Two others used the postal ballot option.
Out of 824 voters, 24 had tested positive during pre-poll testing conducted a few days ago.
The election authorities have provided PPE kits to the COVID infected voters.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter K. Kavitha appears set to get elected to the Upper House of the state legislature.
Almost all voters cast their votes at 50 polling centres in Nizamabad and Kamareddy districts. The polling began at 9 a.m. and ended 5 p.m., poll officials said.
Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, Roads and Buildings Minister Vemula Prashanth Reddy and Nizamabad MP D. Arvind were among those who participated in the voting.
Members of Parliament (MPs), Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) and Members of Legislative Council (MLCs), corporators, councillors, ZPTC and MPTC members from the district are the voters.
Nizamabad District Collector and Returning Officer Narayan Reddy said the polling was conducted smoothly. He said 50 polling centres were set up to ensure social distancing in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.
As the TRS has 598 out of a total of 824 votes, Kavitha’s election is being seen as a foregone conclusion. However, the TRS leadership cautioned the party leaders against complacency and overconfidence.
Chandrasekhar Rao has directed the party leaders to ensure her victory with a huge margin.
Congress has fielded V. Subhash Reddy while P. Laxminarayana is the BJP candidate.
Kavitha had received a shock defeat at the hands of BJP’s D. Arvind in Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency last year. It was a big blow for the Chief Minister’s daughter who was elected from the same constituency in 2014.
Since then, Kavitha had gone into hibernation and was hardly making public appearances.
The vacancy in the Council caused by the disqualification of incumbent R. Bhupathi Reddy provided an opportunity to the TRS leaders to push for Kavitha’s candidature. At the request of party leaders from Nizamabad, KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly known, agreed to field his daughter.
Bhupathi of the TRS was disqualified after he defected to the Congress ahead of the Assembly elections in 2018. He challenged the disqualification but first, the High Court and later, the Supreme Court upheld the Legislative Council Chairman’s action.
As per the notification issued by the Election Commission on March 12, the polling was to be held on April 7. However, it was postponed thrice due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The counting of votes will be taken up on October 12.
