Telangana is all set for a triangular contest between the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samiti, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party as elections to the 119-member assembly will be held on Thursday.
The polling will held from 7 am to 5 pm in 106 constituencies, while in 13 Left Wing Extremism affected seats the voting time has been reduced to 7 am to 4 pm.
There are 3.26 crore eligible voters in the state and a total of 2,290 candidates from 109 parties are in the fray. The contestants include 221 women and one transgender.
The votes will be counted on December 3.
The Election Commission has ordered all private establishments including IT firms to declare holiday on November 30 to enable employees to exercise their franchise.
The high decibel campaign that saw top national leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi and BRS supremo K. Chandrasekar Rao addressing a series of rallies culminated on Tuesday.
Chief Minister Rao, his minister-son K.T. Rama Rao, state Congress president A. Revanth Reddy and BJP Lok Sabha members Bandi Sanjay Kumar and D. Arvind are among the top candidates.
The BRS has fielded candidates in all 119 seats while the Congress is contesting in 118 seats and has given one seat to its ally, the Communist Party of India.
The BJP and its ally Pawan Kalyan-headed Jana Sena are contesting in 111 and 8 seats respectively.
Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has put up candidates in nine constituencies in Hyderabad.
While Rao is seeking a third term in office, the Congress is keen to form its government in the state. The BJP, meanwhile, has promised to end the “misrule and corruption” of the BRS government.
If Rao wins, it will be the first time when a chief minister from a southern state will get third straight term in office.
Rao is contesting from two seats. In Gajwel, he faces BJP leader Etela Rajender while in Kamareddy the chief minister is locking horns with Congress state unit chief Revanth Reddy.
Both Rajender and Revanth Reddy are also contesting in a second seat—the BJP leader in Huzurabad and the Congress state chief in Kodangal.
In the 2018 elections, the BRS (then Telangana Rashtra Samithi) won 88 of the 119 seats with 47.4 per cent vote share. The Congress managed to win just 19 seats.