Hyderabad: The high-stake Munugode bypoll saw 11 percent voter turnout till 9:30 am. The polling began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.
In the constituency which is in Nalgonda District, polling is taking place at 298 polling stations.
The fortunes of 47 candidates will be decided by over 2.41 lakh electorate, half of them women.
Security arrangement
For the smooth conduct of the polling process, 1,492 polling personnel have been deployed. The poll authorities have also deployed 199 micro observers.
As many as 3,366 state police personnel and 15 companies of central forces have been deployed to ensure peaceful and free and fair polling. Authorities were especially focusing on 105 polling stations which have been identified as critical.
Munugode bypoll
The bypoll was necessitated after sitting MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy resigned from the Congress to join the BJP in August. Reddy is now contesting on the BJP ticket.
The TRS has fielded former MLA Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy, who had lost to Rajagopal Reddy in 2018.
The Congress has fielded Palvai Sravanthi Reddy, daughter of former MP Palvai Goverdhan Reddy.
The by-election is being described as the costliest in the country with the political parties accusing each other of distributing money, liquor and even gold to lure the voters.
The high-voltage campaigning was dominated by the allegations of corruption.
With inputs from agencies
