Three union minister are among the prominent contestant in the first phase of polls in the state to be held on Thursday.
The first phase covers Telangana, comprising ten districts including the state capital, and three north coastal Andhra districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam.
As many as 30.1 million voters are expected to exercise their franchise at 36,124 polling stations to decide the electoral fortunes of 315 candidates for 22 Lok Sabha and 1,833 candidates for 154 Assembly constituencies on April 16.
Union ministers S Jaipal Reddy, Renuka Chowdary, and D Purandareswari, Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhara Rao, film actress Vijayashanti of TRS, TDP’s parliamentary party leader K Yerran Naidu, CPI national secretary S Sudhakar Reddy, Praja Rajyam Party general secretary Allu Aravind, state BJP president Bandaru Dattatreya and MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi are among the prominent candidates in fray for the Lok Sabha elections.
For the Assembly elections, AP Congress Committee president, D Srinivas, and a score of prominent Congress and TDP leaders are in the fray.
As many as 72,973 electronic voting machines (EVMs) would be used during the first phase of polling and over 60,000 policemen would be deployed along with Central Para Military Force and Andhra Pradesh Special Police personnel.
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The officials have identified 5,102 polling stations in the state as troublesome, 9,159 as sensitive, 5,312 as hyper-sensitive and 2,747 as extremist affected.
For the first time, the state is witnessing a keen triangular contest among the ruling Congress, four-party opposition alliance (Maha Kootami) comprising TDP, Telangana Rashtra samithi (TRS), CPI and CPM and actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam Party.