Hyderabad, May 12 (Reporter) The stage is all set for Monday for the single and fourth phase of elections in Telangana, covering 17 Lok Sabha and a by-poll for the Secunderabad assembly seats. Over 3.31 crore voters, including over 1.66 crore female voters, are expected to exercise their franchise at 35, 356 polling stations across the state, where the fate of 525 candidates will be decided. The counting of votes will be taken up on June 4 nationwide. The polling will commence at 7 a.m. on Monday, after the mock polling at 5.30 a.m. According to Telangana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vikas Raj, polling in Maoist-affected assembly segments of parliamentary constituencies would conclude at 4 p.m., while polling in other assembly segments in the rest of the parliamentary constituencies of the state and Secunderabad assembly constituency would conclude at 6 p.m. Elaborate arrangements have been made by deploying more than 2.94 lakh polling staff at all polling stations, he said. As many as 9,900 critical polling stations were identified in the state, he said. According to Director General of Police Ravi Gupta, tight security arrangements have been put in place by deploying more than 73,000 state police personnel, 164 companies of the central armed police force, and other specialised units to ensure smooth and orderly polling. Ever since the model code of conduct (MCC) came into force on March 16, 2024, about Rs 320 crore has been seized across the state. Of the total 525 candidates, including 286 independents left in the fray, the maximum number of 45 candidates is in Secunderabad parliamentary constituency, while the lowest number of 12 contestants is in the fray from Aliabad (ST) constituency. Union Minister and Telangana state BJP President G. Kishan Reddy is seeking re-election from the Secunderabad parliamentary constituency, while Danam Nagender of Congress is keen to wrest the seat. BJP National General Secretary Bandi Sanjay Kumar is contesting again from Karimnagar and BJP senior leader Etala Rajender from Malkajgiri parliamentary constituency, while AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi is seeking re-election for a fifth consecutive term from Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency. The former IPS officer RS Praveen Kumar and sitting MP Nama Nageswar Rao, among others, are in the poll fray from BRS-led K Chandrasekhar Rao, while CPI(M) is contesting in one parliament seat from Bhongir, and their candidate was Mohammed Jahangir. In the remaining 16 other seats, the party extended its support to the Congress as part of the INDIA alliance. In the 2019 elections, the BRS won nine seats while the BJP bagged four. The Congress could win three seats while AIMIM retained its lone seat. Apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several union ministers, including Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, and Congress leaders Mallikrajun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, canvassed for their respective party candidates. The elections are mainly between the three major political parties: the BJP, Congress, and BRS, the regional party. The major political parties have fielded only six women for 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Among the women candidates, the one who is stealing the thunder is BJP Hyderabad LS candidate K. Madhavi Latha, an entrepreneur who is taking on AIMIM supremo Asaduddin Owaisi. The BJP has fielded two candidates: D.K. Aruna (Mahabubnagar) and K. Madhavi Latha (Hyderabad)...////...