Following a complaint from CPI state secretary Chada Venkat Reddy, voting for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls in Old Malakpet area of Hyderabad was stopped on Tuesday.
As per the report by The News Minute, the decision was taken after Reddy complained that his party symbol was replaced with another symbol on the ballot paper. He claimed that instead of sickle and hammer, his party got axe and sickle as the symbol and demanded strict action for the alleged negligence.
Repolling for the area will be conducted on Thursday (Dec 3).
The Telangana State Election Commission (SEC) has made elaborate arrangements for the balloting process by deploying 48,000 (including reserve) polling personnel and 52,500 strong police force.
The commission had decided to conduct the election with ballot papers after obtaining the views of major political parties and the Health Department in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and taking into consideration various relevant issues, it had said.
The commission has also made special arrangements in view of the pandemic.
The main contest in the poll is among the ruling TRS, opposition BJP and the Congress. The run-up to the polling witnessed a high decibel and often acrimonious campaign.
The voting for the 150-ward GHMC began at 7 am and it would be ending at 6 pm.
A total of 74,44,260 voters will exercise their franchise using ballot papers to elect their representatives.
(With inputs from agencies)
