Telangana elections 2023: Azharuddin appeals people to cast votes for vibrant democracy

After exercising his franchise, the former cricketer urged the people of the state to cast their vote.

"It is important to vote to keep the democracy vibrant. If you don't vote, then you don't have any right to question..." Azharuddin said. The former India cricket captain is contesting from the Jubilee Hills Assembly seat. The Congress's ticket from the Jubilee Hills Assembly seat for the coming Telangana elections marks a return to active politics for Azharuddin. In 2018, this constituency was won by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now BRS). Jubilee Hills comes under the Hyderabad district of Telangana State and falls under the Secundrabad Lok sabha constituency. In 2018, Maganti Gopinath of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi won the seat by defeating P Vishnuvardhan Reddy of the Indian National Congress with a margin of 16004 votes.

This time, the BRS has re-nominated incumbent MLA Maganti Gopinath and the Congress has fielded Azharuddin while the BJP candidate is its executive committee member Lankala Deepak Kumar. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), a BRS ally, has named its candidate Mohammed Rashed Farazuddin who is a municipal corporator. However, as many as 2,290 candidates from 109 national and regional parties including 221 women and one transgender are in the fray.

Their fate will be decided by a total of 3.17 crore voters. The counting of the votes will be declared on December 3. A total of 103 legislators are re-contesting this time, most of them from the ruling Bharat Rasthra Samithi (BRS). Voters would exercise their franchise at 35,655 polling stations set up across the state. For the first time in Telangana, a home voting facility is being provided to persons with disabilities and voters above 80 years of age. Home voting for citizens aged over 80 years and differently-abled persons has also been made available, with about 27,600 voters enlisted to avail of the service on Thursday.

About 1,000 other voters have also registered for the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System. Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao is contesting from two seats -- his original seat Gajwel and Kamareddy.