An estimated 70,000 security personnel will be on duty as about 23.5 lakh voters in 12 assembly constituencies of the Telangana region will exercise their franchise on Tuesday and speak their minds on the contentious separate state issue. The results are expected to be out on July 30.

The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), which virtually forced the elections with 10 of its legislators resigning on the T issue in February this year, is hoping that the electorate will cast their votes in its favour and endorse its campaign for a separate state. Congress candidates and former ministers D Srinivas and Md Shabbir Ali are facing an uphill task in Nizamabad Urban and Yellareddy constituencies while the TDP is not expected to make any gains in the bypolls.

Polling is to be held between 7 am and 5 pm. While the electorate in Sirpur, Cehnnur, Mancherial, Nizamabad Urban, Dharmapuri, Vemulawada and Siddipet assembly constituencies will cast their votes through electronic voting machines (EVMs), those in Yellareddy, Koratla, Sircilla, Huzurabad and Warangal West will do so on ballot papers. The results of the constituencies where EVMs are being used are likely to be out in the morning of July 30 while the others may take till the evening.

Almost 8,000 of the security personnel are central forces. While 450 polling stations have been declared hyper-sensitive, another 460 have been termed as sensitive. Over 2,000 video cameras are being positioned in the polling stations while CC cameras will be deployed in the strong rooms where the votes cast will be kept and the counting centres.

In all, 435 candidates are in the fray for the 12 assembly seats. The TRS ploy to maximise voting through ballot papers succeeded in five constituencies where the candidates total 363 while there are only 72 candidates in the 5 seats where EVMs are being used. Sircilla has the highest number of candidates in 78 while there are only four in the fray in Vemulawada.