Telangana: Preparations in full swing for elections in five urban local bodies in Khammam and three in Kothagudem

Khammam: All is set for conducting elections in five urban local bodies in Khammam district and three in Kothagudem district on Wednesday.

Khammam district Collector Anudeep Durishetty informed that there are 117 wards in five municipalities in Khammam district. 295 polling officers, 295 APOs, 910 OPOs, 26 zonal officers and 38 route officers were appointed to conduct the polling.

Ten SSTs, 12 video surveillance (VST) and 12 video viewing teams (VVTs) have been formed. Besides, webcasting arrangements have been made at 241 polling stations. 35 micro observers were appointed to monitor polling and 56 buses were readied for the transportation of election materials to the polling stations.

Distribution, reception, strong room and counting centres have been set up at Priyadarshini Engineering College at Pedda thanda for Edulapuram Municipality, Government High School in Kallur for Kallur, Government Polytechnic College in Ghazipur for Madhira, Veterinary Hospital for Wyra and Jyothi Nilayam for Sathupalli Municipality, he said.

There are 28, 830 voters in Sathupalli, 25, 679 in Madhira, 24, 689 in Wyra, 45, 256 in Edulapuram and 18, 866 voters in Kallur Municipality. There are 47 polling stations in Sathupalli, 44 in Madhira, 41 in Wyra, 69 in Edulapuram and 40 in Kallur.

Commissioner of Police Sunil Dutt informed that 11, 00 police personnel have been deployed in five municipalities and they include four additional DCPs, eight ACPs, 25 CIs and 80 SIs.

Kothagudem district Collector Jitesh V Patil informed that there are 106 wards in three urban local bodies in the district and 1, 85,348 voters would exercise their right to vote. Kothagudem Municipal Corporation with 60 divisions has 1, 34, 775 voters, Aswaraopet 22 wards has 16,850 voters and Yellandu with 24 wards has 33,723 voters.

As many as 288 polling stations were set up in 90 polling locations, of them 49 were sensitive polling stations, where special security measures have been taken while four critical polling stations in Yellandu were under surveillance.

Nearly 345 presiding officers, 1,036 other polling officers (including reserve), 48 returning officers and 48 assistant returning officers were appointed. 31 zonal officers, eight flying squads and 10 static surveillance teams (SSTs) were set up to maintain surveillance, Patil added.