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Hyderabad, Nov 11 (IANS) Nearly 9.2 per cent voting was recorded in the first two hours in the by-election for Jubilee Hills assembly constituency in Hyderabad on Tuesday. Voting began at 7 am in all 407 polling stations in the constituency. According to the Election Commission, 9.2 percent votes were cast till 9 am. The constituency witnessed moderate turnout in the initial overs, which includes posh Jubilee Hills and several middle class and weaker class colonies and slums in the heart of the city. Over four lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the by-election, which has been necessitated by the death of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) sitting MLA Maganti Gopinath. A total of 58 candidates are in the fray, but the main contest is between the ruling Congress party and the opposition BRS and BJP. BRS has fielded Gopinath’s wife Sunita, while Naveen Yadav has fielded on Congress ticket. BJP has once again fielded Lankala Deepak Reddy. Sunita was among the first voters to cast her vote in Yellareddyguda Srinagar Colony. He appealed to all the voters to exercise their franchise. Congress and BJP candidates also cast their votes. He appealed to all the voters to cast their vote. District Election Officer RV Karnan visited a polling booth in Borabanda and witnessed the voting process. He said there were some technical glitches in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) at 11 places and they have been rectified. Chief Electoral Officer C. Sudarshan Reddy said the polling process would continue till 6 pm and voters standing in queues at polling stations would be allowed to cast their votes at 6 pm. The Election Commission had made elaborate arrangements to ensure smooth, free and fair voting. For the first time, drones have been deployed for surveillance at all polling stations. The CEO said 139 drones have been deployed for centralized aerial surveillance and real-time situation analysis. The drones will help closely monitor the voting process at 407 polling stations located in 139 buildings. Real-time monitoring will provide a bird’s eye view of polling stations and help election officials identify any irregularities immediately. A control room has been set up at the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) head office to monitor the use of drones. Hyderabad District Election Officer RV Karnan said arrangements for live webcasting from all polling stations have been made to ensure peaceful voting and maintain law and order. Of the 407 polling stations at 65 locations, 226 have been identified as critical polling stations, where paramilitary forces have been deployed. A total of 2,060 polling personnel will be on duty. These include 515 polling officers and equal number of assistant polling officers. Keeping in view the large number of candidates contesting the elections, Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) consisting of one Control Unit (CU), four Ballot Units (BU) and one VVPAT have been provided at all polling stations. A total of 561 CUs, 2,394 BUs and 595 VVPATs were deployed. Mobile counters were opened at all polling stations to facilitate voters to deposit their mobile phones before entering the polling stations and take them back after casting their votes. According to Hyderabad Joint Commissioner of Police Tafseer Iqbal, 1,761 policemen have been deployed. Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were deployed at 68 polling station locations. There are a total of 4,01,365 voters in the constituency, which includes 2,08,561 males, 1,92,779 females and 25 others. According to the DEO, there are 6,859 voters in the 18-19 years age group, while there are 2,134 voters above 85 years of age. He said that 103 absentee voters (above 85 years and PWD voters) have exercised their option for postal ballot, and of these, 101 have exercised postal ballot voting. –IANS ms/dpb