Hyderabad, Apr 27 (UNI) To increase the polling percentage, the Congress party in Telangana on Saturday requested the Election Commission (EC) to extend the polling hours from 7 am to 6 pm in all 119 assembly constituencies in 17 parliamentary constituencies to facilitate the people to come forward for vote
due to hot summer and heat waves.
The General Elections to the 17 Lok Sabha Constituencies in Telangana state are scheduled for the fourth phase and elections will be held on May 13, 2024.
In his letter addressed to state Chief Electoral Officer (.CEO) Vikas Raj, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Senior Vice President G Niranjan
said that as for the gazette notification issued by the election commission, the polling hours will be in between 7 am to 5 pm except in 13 Assembly constituencies.
In the 13 Assembly constituencies in Telangana --
Sirpur AC, Asifabad AC ( both come under Adilabad parliament constituency) ; .Chenur AC, .Bellampally AC, Mancherial AC, Manthani AC ( all under Peddapally parliament constituency); Bhupalpalle AC ( Warangal parliament constituency ); Mulugu AC, Pinapaka AC, Yellandu AC, Badrachalam AC( Mahbubabad parliament constituency) and
Kothagudam AC, Aswaraopeta AC (Khamam
parliament constituency),the hours of polling will be in between 7 am to 4 pm, he said.
Even the authorities are also cautioning the public not to come out of their houses in between 12 to 4 pm unless there is any urgent need, he said that the Indian meteorological department (IMD) also issued an orange alert for various districts in Telangana during this summer. It has been observed that there is a significant decrease in the movement of people during afternoon hours.
"We cannot expect the people to come out between 12 pm to 3 pm to cast their vote that will certainly result in low percentage of voting," he pointed out.
It is pertinent to note as for the gazette notification in several assembly constituencies in adjacent Andhra Pradesh state are having polling hours from 7 am to 6 pm, the Congress leader said.
In view of the hot summer and heat waves, we requested the election commission to change the polling hours in all the 17 parliamentary constituencies to felicitate the people to come forward for voting and also to increase polling percentage, he said.
He said that the effect of extremist activities in the mentioned 13 assembly segments is almost negligible and requested to review the situation with the concerned officials and requested for not to curtail polling hours in these 13 assembly segments, he added.
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