The stage is set for tomorrow's polling in the bye-election to Warangal (SC) Lok Sabha constituency in Telangana which would see a multi-cornered contest among the ruling TRS, Congress, BJP-TDP and YSRCP.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi fielded P Dayakar and it has appointed state ministers as in-charges for the assembly segments falling under the parliamentary constituency.
In addition to the state ministers who campaigned vigorously in favour of the party nominee, TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has also addressed a public meeting.
The main opposition Congress, which sought to salvage its prestige following the drubbing in last year's election despite "delivering" on the separate statehood demand, suffered an early setback with its candidate S Rajaiah having to go to jail following the deaths in mysterious circumstances of his daughter-in-law and three children at his home in Warangal.
Rajaiah withdrew his candidature and former Union Minister Sarve Satyanarayana became the Congress nominee.
Overcoming the embarrassment, Congress ran a determined campaign with senior leaders like Sushil Kumar Shinde, Meira Kumar, Ghulam Nabi Azad, AICC General Secretary (in-charge of party affairs in Telangana) Digvijay Singh and Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot canvassing for the party candidate.
BJP fielded an NRI medical professional P Devaiah on behalf of the NDA. Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy and party MLAs canvassed for the BJP candidate.
The Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements for the poll.
Polling would be held from 7 am to 5 pm. The numbers of male and female voters are 7,57,231 and 7,52,293, respectively.
The by-election was necessitated by the resignation of sitting TRS MP K Srihari after he became Telangana Deputy Chief Minister.
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Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Bhanwar Lal told reporters that there are 1778 polling stations, including 642 sensitive, 498 hyper sensitive and 33 Left-Wing (extremism) effected.
Live web-casting would be done in 626 polling stations and as many as 7,606 policemen have been deployed for the polling.
The authorities have seized Rs 1.88 crore in cash, and 5035 litres of illicit liquor have been seized as part of enforcement of model code of conduct.
In the 2014 General Elections, 76.15 per cent of votes were polled in the Warangal (SC) parliamentary constituency.
