Hyderabad (Telangana) : AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday urged voters to exercise their franchise to "strengthen" democracy and further "restore" faith in the Constitution during the ongoing Telangana Assembly polls.

Voting began at 7 am at various polling booths across the state amid heavy security arrangements.

Speaking to ANI after casting his vote in Hyderabad, Owaisi said, "I urge the people of Telangana to exercise their franchise to strengthen democracy....".

He stressed the need for voters to further restore faith in the Constitution and strengthen the nation by exercising their franchise." It is not a day to celebrate at home."

Emphasising the importance of every vote, the Hyderabad MP asked voters, "If you vote, the accountability of the politicians will also increase."

Underscoring that 'first-time' voters have a "great responsibility to fulfil", Owaisi said, "You will not be given importance if you do not participate in voting".

A total of 3.17 crore candidates are polling to decide the fate of as many as 2290 candidates.

Voters are exercising their franchise at 35,655 polling stations set up across the state.For the first time in Telangana, home voting for citizens aged over 80 years and persons with disabilities has also been made available, with about 27,600 voters enlisted to avail of the service.

About 1,000 other voters have also registered for the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System, according to a poll official.

Meanwhile, BRS leader K Kavitha, Telangana minister and BRS MLA KT Rama Rao, state Congress chief Revanth Reddy, and others cast their votes.

In the first assembly polls in 2014 for the newly created state of Telanagana, the Congress got 25.20 per cent votes and BRS (then TRS) got 34 per cent in the Telangana area.

In 2018, BRS (then Telangana Rashtra Samithi) won 88 of the 119 seats and had 47.4 per cent of the vote share. The Congress came a distant second with just 19 seats.
The counting of votes, along with that in four other states will be taken up on December 3.