Vikas Raj
| Photo Credit: File photo
Hyderabad and its suburbs again had the dubious distinction of having under 50% turnout despite a campaign by the Election Commission of India and politicians about the issue. This at a time when the State recorded over 65.66% polling. On the brighter side, Goshamahal, Bahadurpura and Karwan recorded over 50% votes.
In April, the Telangana Chief Electoral Officer told newsmen that 32.8 lakh voters have been pruned from the electors rolls over the past two year. Earlier, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Feroz Khan had raised the issue of bogus voters in the Hyderabad constituency. Using his own network, he calculated that 30% of the voters were fake. He calculated that out of 22,06,654 voters in Hyderabad Parliament Constituency, 6,64,000 were fake. This pruning of electoral rolls was expected to raise the polling percentage as has been in the case with Andhra Pradesh. It was not to be.
Hyderabad recorded 48.48% voter turnout while Secunderabad recorded 49.04% as per figures shared by the Election Commission of India. Goshamahal saw a turnout of 54.72%, Karwan 51.23% and Bahadurpura 50.7% Dragging down the percentage were Malakpet with 42.76%, Yakutpura 43.34% and Charminar with 48.53%.
The low voting turnout is a repeat of voter apathy from the 2023 Assembly elections when the district recorded 47%.
The highest percentage recorded in the region was the partially rural constituency of Rajendranagar with 54.12%.
The Chevalla constituency includes the surrounding areas of Hyderabad of Serilingampally, Rajendranagar and Maheshwaram. His appeal appeared to have had no impact as Serilingampally which recorded 48.85% in the Assembly elections saw the voting percentage drop to 43.91%.
Jubilee Hills, which is part of the Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency, recorded 45.59% votes.
The one difference between 2023 Assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections has been the Yakutpura Assembly segment which recorded 43.34% on Monday as against 36.69 in the Assembly elections.
