22.84 per cent voter turnout in Telangana till 11 am; polling underway

Hyderabad: Telangana registered 22.84 per cent polling till 11 am as polling in the first of the seven-phased general elections began on Thursday, according to an official communication.

Polling was underway in 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in Telangana on Thursday, where former Union minister Renuka Chowdhury and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi are among the prominent candidates who are in the fray.

AIMIM Chief and Hyderabad MP candidate Asaduddin Owaisi casted his vote at a polling booth in the city. He is a three time sitting MP from the constituency.

Khammam Congress candidate Renuka Chowdhury casted her vote. Talking to media, former Union minister said, "I am hopeful that we would be able to win this race, I am very optimistic."

Working President of Telangana Rashtra Samithi, KT Rama Rao also voted at a polling booth in Hyderabad.

Polling in 16 constituencies began at 7 am, while the voting process in Nizamabad started at 8 am. Over 2.97 crore voters would decide the fate of 443 candidates in the state.

In 13 Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-effected Assembly segments under five parliamentary constituencies polling would be held from 7 am to 4 pm.

In Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency, where 185 candidates, including more than 170 farmers, are in the fray, voting began from 8 am as mock polling took more time compared to other constituencies in view of the large number of candidates.

The farmers have entered the fray in large numbers to highlight their demand for a remunerative price to turmeric and red jowar.

The Election Commission decided to conduct polling in Nizamabad with EVMs despite a large number of candidates and made arrangements accordingly.

Former Union minister and Congress leader Renuka Chowdhary (Khammam), AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi (Hyderabad), state Congress chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy (Nalgonda), the party's working presidents A Revanth Reddy (Malkajgiri) and Ponnam Prabhakar (Karimnagar), sitting TRS MP K Kavitha (Nizamabad) are among the prominent candidates in the fray.

As many as 145 companies of central paramilitary forces, besides over 55,000 state police have been deployed.

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