Hyderabad, Dec 7 (UNI) Voting for the 119-Assembly seats in Telangana began at 0700 hours on Friday.
More than 2.8 crore electorate including 1.39 crore woman will exercise their franchise which has a total of 32,815 polling stations.

According to State Chief Electoral Officer Dr Rajat Kumar, a major of the 4.57 lakh Persons With disabilities (PwDs) who enrolled for the poll is expected to vote due to the new awareness created for them and the special facilities offered to them such as free transport, grilled ramps, wheel-chairs, no queue observance and special parking slots. A total of 29,541 volunteers would assist them in the voting.

According to Hyderabad District Election Officer Dana Kishore, Ramps, Wheelchair, ramp-enabled vehicles with one volunteer each, android based GHMC VAADA app, Braille slips are the arrangements made at all polling stations in Hyderabad for PwDs.

As per records, 18,000 people registered as PwD voters in Hyderabad district. For blind voters, Braille slips will be distributed, he added.

The polling began without any hindrance at all the 3873 polling stations established in15 assembly constituencies in Hyderabad district.

According to Additional DG (Law and Order) Jitender , about one lakh police personnel, including 27,900 central security forces,18,860 from other states and 30,000 state police, were deployed for the poll.

"Special arrangements have been made for the left-wing extremist areas bordering Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. Combing operations and 'area domination exercise' have been carried out extensively to prevent any untoward incidents. State and central security forces have also been deployed and adequate measures have been taken," Police sources said.

Security have been tightened at the sensitive areas in the old city, where nearly 300 polling stations were identified as critical and vulnerable.

Air ambulances and helicopters were also being arranged by the election authorities for any contingency at strategic locations.

The Assembly poll in Telangana were originally scheduled to be held simultaneously with Lok Sabha election in 2019 but the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) had decided to go in for an early election and the Assembly was dissolved on September 6, eight months ahead of the schedule.

Mr Rajat said, polling will end at 5 pm in 106 Assembly Constituencies, while in 13 constituencies, which were classified as Left Wing Extremism-affected, the voting will end an hour earlier.

He said enough paramilitary force personnel was deployed at the "highly politically sensitive" constituency of Kodangal assembly Constituency.
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