The election authorities have made arrangements for live web-casting at 1,140 out of the total 1,837 polling stations in the Medak Lok Sabha constituency in Telangana.
Chief electoral officer Bhanwar Lal today said all the candidates had been given user ID and password to access the live web-casting on the Internet — normally used by the election authorities to keep a watch on any polling-related malpractices.
Byelections to Medak were announced following the resignation of K Chandrasekhara Rao from the Lok Sabha seat as he chose to retain the Assembly seat to form the TRS government. The Nandigama seat fell vacant after Tangirala Prabhakar Rao, who won the seat on a TDP ticket, died even before taking oath in the Assembly.
The by-elections are not expected to throw any surprises. The lectoral outcomes in both the constituencies are likely to go in favour of the ruling party candidates in respective states, according to the reports. In Medak, the BJP has fielded Jagga Reddy, a former Congress MLA from the Sangareddy Assembly segment against TRS candidate K Prabhakar Reddy.
On the other hand, Congress party has fielded former minister Sunitha Laxma Reddy, who hails from the same district. Jagga Reddy, a known opponent to the state bifurcation, is highly unlikely to make it to the top-two positions in terms of votes, observers say.
Chief election officer Bhanwar Lal said 95% of the voters were served with photo voter slips at their houses and those who do not carry voter slips can utilise their voting right by producing other identity proofs.
