Telangana local body polls: Drunk voter chews, swallows ballot paper

Hyderabad: A 72-year-old drunk voter was held for chewing and swallowing a ballot paper in Jagtiyal during the first phase of the Telangana local body polls on Thursday, December 11.

The incident occurred in Venkatapur village where the accused, identified as Venkataiah arrived at the polling station and took the white ballot paper meant to vote for ward members, chewed it and swallowed it instead of placing it in the ballot box.

According to Jagtiyal police, Venkataiah also chewed the pink ballot paper meant to vote for sarpanch candidates. However, the man could not fully swallow it as the polling staff stopped him and handed him over to the police.

Based on a complaint by the election authorities, a case was registered.

High voter turnout in Telangana local body polls

The first phase of the Telangana local body elections held on Thursday recorded Over 84 per cent voter turnout the State Election Commission (SEC) said.

Claiming a decisive victory, the ruling party’s state unit president B Mahesh Kumar Goud said Congress-backed candidates won more than 90 per cent of the seats reflecting people’s trust in the Congress government.

Of the 53,57,277 eligible voters, 45,15,141 cast their votes (84.28 per cent), an official release said. The polling, held from 7 AM to 1 PM in 3,834 Gram Panchayats, concluded peacefully and the counting of votes began at 2 PM.

Amid elaborate security arrangements made by police, the polling was held peacefully, Additional DGP (Law and Order) Mahesh M Bhagwat told PTI.

Extensive security arrangements have been made for polling. All polling stations have been classified as either critical or normal, with police deployment based on the sensitivity and vulnerability of each location.

A release said unanimous elections took place in 396 gram panchayats.

Expressing happiness over the “resounding” victory of Congress-supported candidates, Mahesh Kumar Goud said, “winning more than 90 per cent of the Sarpanch seats by Congress-backed candidates across the state stands as a testimony to the people’s trust in the Congress government.”

Under Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s leadership, the two years of governance focused on welfare and development and it is reflected in the Panchayat election results, he said.

“People have endorsed our slogan of welfare, social justice, and development. The sweeping victory of Congress candidates in the Sarpanch elections is proof of that,” Goud said.

On the other hand, state BJP president N Ramchander Rao said the party secured significant gains in the Gram Panchayat elections, signalling growing support for the party in rural areas.

With inputs from PTI