Hyderabad: The counting of votes in the by-election to the Munugode Assembly constituency in Telangana will be held today.
Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be opened in the presence of the election observer, contesting candidates and poll agents at 7.30 am, Chief Electoral Officer Vikas Raj said.
Three-layered security has been provided for the counting of votes with the inner core area being managed by central forces while the outer two layers being fortified by the state police.
"The counting of votes will commence at 8 am at the Telangana State Warehousing Corporation Godowns in Arjalabavi in Nalgonda," Mr Raj said. "After 30 minutes of postal ballot counting, the EVM counting will commence. The counting of votes will be completed in 15 rounds."
In each round of counting, the poll observer will cross-check the result of two randomly selected polling stations with the result sheer on the table, Mr Raj added. After completion of EVM counting, the mandatory counting of five randomly selected VVPAT slips will be taken up at the counting booth.
The contest in Munugode Assembly constituency is crucial for the three major parties in Telangana - the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and opposition BJP and Congress.
While there are 47 candidates in the fray, TRS MLA Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy, BJP's Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy and Congress Palvai Sravanthi remain in the spotlight.