Phase one polling in Telugu states on Thursday

The stage is set for simultaneous poll for 175 seats Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh and 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana on Thursday.

In Nizamabad and 13 segments that are affected by left-wing extremist in Telangana, the polling exercise will start at 7 am and end at 5 pm.

In all 3,93,45,717 voters including 10 lakh first time voters; 56,000 service voters and up to 4 lakh ballot voters are expected to exercise their franchise.

2,118 candidates in Assembly and 319 Lok Sabha candidates will be testing their luck on Thursday in Andhra Pradesh. The Election commission has made elaborate arrangements for smooth and peaceful voting in 45,920 polling booths out of which 9,000 are notified as "sensitive".

Three lakh polling staff and 1,20,000 police force will man the massive exercise.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, his son and state IT minister N Lokesh, YSRCP Chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, Janasena chief Pawan Kalyan, APCC Chief N Raghuveera Reddy, state BJP unit head Kanna Lakshminarayana, former CBI Joint Director V V Lakshminarayana, NTR’s son Balakrishna, daughter Purandheswari are some high-profile candidates.

In Telangana, 443 candidates including 418 men and 25 women are in the fray for the 17 Lok Sabha seats.

Nizamabad has the highest number of candidates—185— and Medak is the lowest with only 10.

The Chief Electoral Officer of Telangana Rajat Kumar informed that as many as 34,604 polling stations have been set up and 141 companies of central police force were drawn to provide a security blanket.

The polling equipment of 77,365 ballot units, 41,051 control units and 43,894 VVPATs have been sent to their destinations and are being readied for polling.

Congress leader Renuka Chowdary, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy, sitting TRS MP K Kavitha are among the prominent candidates who are in fray in Telangana.