The counting of votes for the three Member of Legislative Council (MLC) seats in Telangana is underway on Monday.
On February 27, elections were held for the graduate constituency of Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar, the teacher constituencies of Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar, and Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda.
While Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar Graduates' Constituency recorded approximately 70.4% voter turnout, Karimnagar Teachers' Constituency witnessed a turnout of 91.9%. Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda Teachers' Constituency achieved a turnout of 93.55%.
Counting is being conducted under camera surveillance with webcasting in place. Each counting centre has set up 16 to 25 tables, staffed by supervisors and assistants. Invalid votes will be discarded after consultation with political party representatives, and the quota for candidates will be determined before counting proceeds.
The counting of votes for the Teachers' constituencies is expected to be completed in about one and a half days, with results likely to be declared by the afternoon of March 4. For the Graduates' constituency, due to the preferential voting system, final results may take two to three days to determine. Security arrangements, including barricading and police deployment, have been put in place at counting centres to ensure a smooth process. A mock counting exercise was conducted under the supervision of the Collector and Returning Officer Pamela Satpathy at Ambedkar Stadium on Sunday.
Tough contest in Karimnagar constituency
Karimnagar Graduate constituency has a total of 3,55,159 voters, where 56 candidates are trying their luck. The main contest is believed to be between Congress' Alphons Narender Reddy, BJP's Chinmayal Anjireddy and BSP's Prasanna Harikrishna.
On the other hand, 27,088 voters exercised their franchise in Karimnagar Teachers constituency, where 15 candidates contested.
19 candidates in fray in Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda
A total of 200 polling stations were set up for Warangal, Khammam and Nalgonda Teachers MLC elections, where 25,797 teacher voters exercised their franchise. Nineteen candidates are in the fray from this constituency.