Campaigning ends for by-poll in Warangal LS constituency

Campaigning came to an end on Thursday for the November 21 by-election for the Warangal Lok Sabha seat from Telangana.

The Election Commission has asked all politicians, who don't have voting right in the constituency to leave immediately.

As many as 23 candidates are in the fray for the by-election, caused by the resignation of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leader Kadiam Srihari as MP after he became the state's deputy chief minister.

The constituency has 15,09,671 voters. Since 23 candidates are contesting, two Electronic Voting Machines would be deployed in each polling booth.

For the first time, photographs of the candidates along with the names and their party symbols will be displayed.

The constituency is witnessing a triangular contest among the ruling TRS, the opposition Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Telugu Desam Party (TDP) alliance.

The TRS has fielded P. Dayakar. The Congress has nominated former union minister Sarve Satyanarayana while P. Devaiah is the BJP candidate.

The Left parties have jointly fielded Vinod Kumar while Suryaprakash is the candidate of the YSR Congress Party.

The campaigning saw leaders of various parties launched vitriolic attack on each other.

For the TRS, Chief Minister -- and party chief -- K. Chandrasekhar Rao and several ministers campaigned, highlighting the programmes taken up by the government during the last one-and-half-years for the all-round development of the newly-created state and welfare of poor.

The opposition parties have termed the by-election as a referendum on the TRS government's performance. Both the Congress and the BJP attacked the TRS government for its failure to check suicides by farmers.

The opposition leaders including the central leaders of both the Congress and the BJP alleged that the TRS failed to fulfil its poll promises.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister -- and TDP president -- N. Chandrababu Naidu did not campaign for his ally BJP.

YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, who is leader of opposition in Andhra Pradesh, addressed public meetings for his party candidate.