2.37 lakh voters, 306 polling booths: Huzurabad ready for by-poll

Around 2,37,036 voters - 1,17,933 male, 1,19,102 female, and a transgender - will cast their votes on Saturday. The poll authorities said 306 polling stations have been set up for the by-poll and over 5,000 polling staff and security personnel deployed to ensure smooth voting in the constituency. Special arrangements have been made for differently-abled, elderly, and COVID-19 patients.

A total of 306 EVMs are going to be utilized for the polling. Though there are 30 candidates in the fray, the main fight will be between the ruling TRS, BJP, and Congress.

The by-poll was necessitated following the resignation of former health minister Etela Rajendar from the K. Chandrashekar Rao Cabinet. He also resigned as Huzurabad MLA and later joined the BJP. The voters will decide the fate of Gellu Srinivas Yadav (TRS), Etela Rajender (BJP), and Balmoor Venkat Nursing Rao (Congress) in a three-cornered contest which is considered a prestige battle for TRS president and Chief Minister KCR.

Huzurabad Assembly constituency is one of 13 constituencies in the Karimnagar district. It is part of the Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency. Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar won the Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 election.

Mr. Rajender has been winning from Huzurabad Assembly constituency on TRS ticket since 2009 when he defeated his nearest rival V. Krishna Mohan Rao of Congress by 15,035 votes.

In the 2010 by-poll, Mr. Rajender increased his victory margin to nearly 80,000 against his nearest rival M. Damodar Reddy of TDP. In the 2014 election held just before the formation of Telangana, the former minister retained the Huzurabad seat with a majority of 57,037 votes. K. Sudershan Reddy of Congress was the runner-up. Mr. Rajender continued his winning streak from Huzurabad in 2018, defeating his nearest rival Kaushik Reddy of Congress by 47,803 votes.