Hyderabad, 14 November (H.S.): Counting of votes for the Jubilee Hills by-election began at 8 am on Friday, November 14, at the Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy Stadium in Yousufguda. Tight security arrangements have been made for the process.

Election officials set up 42 tables and the counting will be completed in 10 rounds.

According to Chief Electoral Officer C. Sudharshan Reddy, the voter turnout was 48.49%, with a total of 1,94,631 votes polled. This includes 99,771 men, 94,855 women, and 5 others. The number of postal ballots is 101.

The constituency has 4,01,365 registered voters. A total of 103 absentee voters (senior citizens above 85 years and Persons with Disabilities) opted for postal voting, and 101 of them cast their votes.

There are 58 candidates in the fray. The by-election was held after the death of BRS MLA Maganti Gopinath. The BRS fielded his wife Sunitha, who is mainly contesting against Congress candidate Naveen Yadav. The BJP fielded Lankala Deepak Reddy.

Exit polls suggest that the Congress may win the seat, with the BRS likely to come second. The AIMIM has supported the Congress in this election.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar