Polling underway for 119 assembly seats in Telangana
Hyderabad (PTI): Polling is underway to elect 119 members of the Telangana Legislative Assembly, with voters queuing up to exercise their franchise amid tight security on Thursday.
Voting began at 7 AM in the 35,655 polling stations across the state, officials said.
Polling would be held till 5 PM in 106 constituencies, while it would conclude at 4 PM in 13 Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected seats.
There are 3.26 crore eligible voters, including 1,63,13,268 male voters and 1,63,02,261 female electors, in the state.
As many as 2,290 contestants are in the fray for the upcoming elections, including Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, his minister-son K T Rama Rao, state Congress president A Revanth Reddy and BJP Lok Sabha members Bandi Sanjay Kumar and D Arvind.
The model code of conduct came into force in the state after the Election Commission announced the schedule on October 9.
BRS has fielded candidates in all 119 seats.
As per the seat sharing agreement, BJP and actor Pawan Kalyan-headed Jana Sena are contesting in 111 and 8 seats respectively.
The Congress has given one seat to its ally CPI, and is fighting from 118 others.
Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM has put up candidates in nine segments in the city.
More than 2.5 lakh staff will be engaged in poll duties for the assembly elections, Chief Electoral officer Vikas Raj has said.
About 77,000 security personnel, comprising state police and Home Guards drawn from the state and neighbouring states, besides 375 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), have been deployed across the state as part of the security arrangements for the election.
For the first time in Telangana, home voting facility was provided to persons with disabilities and voters above 80 years.
As on November 29, law enforcement agencies have seized cash, gold, liquor, freebies among others all worth about Rs 745 crore in the state ever since the model code of conduct came into force in the state on October 9, an official release said.
The EC has ordered all private establishments including IT firms to declare holiday on November 30 to enable employees to exercise their franchise.
The counting of votes will be taken up on December 3.
Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, his Tripura counterpart N Indrasena Reddy, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Union Minister and state BJP president G Kishan Reddy are among the prominent leaders who will cast their votes in the elections.
CM Chandrasekhar Rao would exercise his franchise at his native Chintamadaka village in Siddipet district, official sources said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Rajnath to top commanders: Outmaneuver adversaries with strategic surprise
Jaipur/New Delhi (PTI): Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday directed the top military commanders of the three services to integrate an "element of surprise" into modern warfare to outmaneuver India's adversaries and bolster strategic posture.
In his address at the joint commanders conference in Jaipur, Singh also described the Operation Sindoor as a testament to the "swift, precise, and joint response" of the Indian armed forces to safeguard national interests and called upon the military to remain ready to deal with any security challenges.
In their two-day deliberations, the commanders carried out a comprehensive review of the combat preparedness of the military in the wake of the evolving regional security situation.
Operation Sindoor was a demonstration of India's growing capabilities and a symbol of the nation's collective resolve and new military ethos, Singh said, a day after the first anniversary of Operation Sindoor.
He also unveiled a 'Joint Doctrine for Integrated Communication Architecture' that is aimed at strengthening doctrinal clarity, interoperability and integrated communications across the armed forces in future multidomain operations.
The joint commanders' conference, themed 'Military Capability in New Domains', brought together the top leadership of the defence ministry and the three services to deliberate on emerging security challenges and future readiness.
Comprehensive deliberations were held on future warfare, multidomain operations, technological transformation and joint capability development.
The conference witnessed extensive discussions on cognitive warfare, cyber resilience against evolving quantum and AI-enabled threats, military capability development in emerging domains, indigenous innovation and AI-enabled warfighting concepts.
It was attended by Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi, Chief of the Army Staff Gen Upendra Dwivedi, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal AP Singh and Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh among others.
In his remarks, Singh asked the commanders to remain "future-ready" by learning from the operation as well as the current global security landscape.
He underscored the need to strengthen capabilities in artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, data analytics and secure communication networks to stay prepared in the rapidly evolving geopolitical security scenario. He emphasised that future conflicts will increasingly be shaped by hybrid threats, information dominance and operations conducted simultaneously across cyber, space, electromagnetic and cognitive domains, according to an official readout.
Highlighting the transformative impact of emerging technologies, Singh stressed on the importance of ensuring integrated national preparedness across all spectrums of conflict, it said.
Singh's remarks at the conference came a day after the first anniversary of Operation Sindoor.
The defence minister appreciated the progress achieved in enhancing jointness, integration and technological adoption across the three services, the readout noted.
Singh said that jointness constitutes a pivotal dimension within the transformative changes sweeping across the global defence sector.
"Future wars will not be won solely through weaponry, but through innovative thinking and enhanced synergy," he said.
The defence minister exhorted the commanders to cultivate the "element of surprise" to remain unpredictable to the nation's adversaries and secure a strategic edge in any given situation.
He, however, urged them to remain vigilant of the element of surprise of the enemy and always stay two steps ahead.
Singh also reiterated the Narendra Modi government's commitment to enhancing the capabilities of the defence forces through state-of-the-art weapons and platforms. He added that special focus is being laid on research in niche domains.
During the conference, he released a documentary film on Operation Sindoor.
The film reaffirms the nation's and defence forces' commitment to operational preparedness and decisive national response capabilities.
Demonstrations of advanced systems and platforms developed for intelligence fusion, operational planning and information management were also showcased during the conference reflecting growing integration of cutting-edge technologies into joint operational structures, according to the defence ministry.
The discussions will contribute significantly towards shaping India's future military transformation and integrated operational preparedness, it said.
