Despite over a dozen parties competing, it is likely to be triangular contest between the TRS, Congress and TDP-BJP combine in a majority of seats.
The stage is set for the first phase of polling in Andhra Pradesh - in the 17 Lok Sabha and 119 Assembly segments of Telangana, on Wednesday.
As many as 2,81,74,055 voters, including 1,37,81,276 women, will decide the fate of 656 candidates for the 17 Lok Sabha constituencies, and 1,669 candidates for the 119 Assembly segments.
The Amberpet Assembly segment has the maximum of 32 comtesting candidates, followed by Secunderabad (31) and Khairtabad (30). Boath (ST) and Andole (SC) have the least numbers of 5 candidates each.
The Quthbullapur Assembly constituency has the maximum number of 601,246 voters, followed by Serilingampally (591,259) and Lal Bahadur Nagar (529,674). Bellampalle (SC) has the least number, of 160,960 voters, in Telangana.
Elaborate arrangements have been made for the polling, which will be held from 7am to 6pm in 109 out of 119 Assembly constituencies. Polling will be held from 7am to 5pm in the Khanapur, Asifabad, Chennur and Sirpur Assembly constituencies of Adilabad district. Originally, the polling in these constituencies was to end at 4pm. But following a request made by Adilabad District Collector Ahmed Babu, the Election Commission of India has extended the closing time by one hour, and made it 5pm.
Polling will end at 4pm in the Bhupalapalle, Mulug and Bhadrachalam Assembly segments.
Among major parties, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi has fielded a total of 118 candidates, followed by the Congress (112), the Bahujan Samaj Party (102), the YSR Congress Party (92), the TDP (72), the BJP (45), the Lok Satta (40), the CPI-M (37), the MIM (20), the JSP (19), the CPI (7) and the MBT (4).
As many as 667 independent candidates are also in the fray. More than half of the candidates in 5 Assembly segments are independents. These are Kukatpally (17/29), L B Nagar (16/29), Ramagundem (16/27), Ibrahimpatnam (15/26) and Khammam (15/25).
Despite the presence of over a dozen parties in the fray, it is likely to be triangular contest in a majority of the seats, between the TRS, the Congress and the TDP-BJP combine. (INN)