Hyderabad: Following low voter turnout in parts of Hyderabad’s Old City, the police, with a loudspeaker in hand, drove across constituencies urging citizens to exercise their voting rights.
Voter turnout for the Telangana Assembly elections reached 51.89% as of 3 pm, with Hyderabad reporting only 31.17% turnout, significantly lower than the last Assembly Polls.
Polling commenced at 7:00 am, however, stats reflected the reluctance of voters to turn up early as only 8.52% showed up at polling stations to cast their votes.
At 11 am, Telangana witnessed a polling percentage of 20.64% with Hyderabad accounting for 12.39% of the total.
Post noon, voters began to turn up, as numbers in Telangana and Hyderabad spiked to 36.68% and 31.17% voter turnout respectively.
Old City constituencies continue to see low voter turnout with Charminar at 29.80%, Chadrayangutta at 24.60% and Yakutpura at 20.09%.
Despite enforcing Section 144 of CrPC, candidates in many parts of Old City moved around with small crowds during the polling process.
Meanwhile, following low voter turnout, city police appealed to citizens to exercise their voting rights.
A party worker overseeing 10 polling booths in the Charminar constituency expressed concerns, stating, “People have lost interest in all the party candidates. They informed me that they don’t want to come out and vote, as pressing NOTA won’t make much of a difference.” This shift in voter sentiment is reflected in the usual practice of party workers arranging for people to come to the polling booths.
Another common sight was people returning from polling stations after discovering their names were missing from the final rolls, further contributing to the subdued atmosphere in Old City during this election.
