Polling is underway in the municipal elections in Telangana on Wednesday amid elaborate security arrangements.

Voting began in 120 municipalities and nine municipal corporations in Telangana amid stray incidents of minor clashes between supporters. According to the State Election Commission, over 30 per cent of votes were cast across all districts by noon.

Gundla Pochampally municipality recorded 19 per cent voting, highest voter turnout in surrounding areas of Hyderabad.

In a first-of-its-kind move, the Telangana State Election Commission is also using a facial recognition app to counter impersonation by voters, on a pilot basis, in 10 selected polling stations.

The initiative will be implemented in Kompally Municipality of Medchal Malkajgiri district, an official release said.

An additional polling officer, who will be equipped with the smartphone, will first verify the identity proof of the voters and then take photographs and upload them to the server using face recognition app installed in the phone provided to him so as to compare it with photographs of the orders of the respective polling station.

Meanwhile, voting delayed in some polling stations in Yadadri and Wyra municipalities due to power supply problem.

The state election commissioner urged voters to videograph any incident of distribution of money and liquor to lure voters which, he said, would help the commission initiate an immediate action.

“If any candidate is found distributing money or liquor to voters or fails to submit election expenditure, he or she will be disqualified even after the election,” state election commissioner V Nagi Reddy warned.

Over 53 lakh 50 thousand voters will exercise their franchise at over 7,900 Polling Stations. Over 12,700 candidates are contesting from 2,500 wards in Municipalities and 324 divisions in nine corporations. Over 50 lakh voters set to decide the fate of TRS, Congress and BJP candidates. Women have 50 per cent reservation in all civic bodies.

Over 45,000 polling staff and about 50,000 police personnel have been deployed for the elections.