Even as candidates and their supporters, along with party leaders, made last minute appeals to voters to exercise their franchise in their favour, campaigning for the Telangana by-elections ended at 5 pm on Sunday.
Attention now shifts to July 27, the day of voting, and then to July 30, when the votes will be counted.
Results are expected to be declared a little later, as counting of votes in 5 constituencies will take longer since ballot papers would be used. The results of the remaining 7 constituencies are expected to be announced by afternoon, as Electronic Voting Machines will be used here.
Chief Electoral Officer I V Subba Rao has warned that the Election Commission will take stringent action against any candidate or political party if campaigning continued beyond the 5pm deadline. Even video clippings of the campaigning would be deemed as canvassing and hence a violation of the Polling Code.
On July 27, voting will begin at 7am and continue till 5pm. The EC has prepared 1,500 ballot boxes for use in the 5 constituencies, where voting will be conducted through ballot papers, since the number of nominations crossed 64.
The Electronic Voting Machines cannot be used if the number of nominations cross 64 since, only 4 EVMs can be connected in a series. One EVM can only display 16 nominees' names.
The EC has also ordered that all liquor sales be stopped in all the constituencies in which voting is scheduled to take place, till voting officially ends.
The EC has asked for 60 companies of central forces in addition to the state police personnel to be deployed, to prevent rigging, booth-capturing or intimidation of voters.