Polling begins in 92 urban local bodies in AP

Polling for municipal elections began at 7am on Sunday and is due to continue until 5pm. Elections were scheduled across 13 municipal corporations and 87 municipalities and nagar panchayats. However, chairpersons and ward members in eight local bodies were elected unopposed, leaving 92 urban local bodies — 13 corporations and 79 municipalities and nagar panchayats — to go to the polls.

The State Election Commission (SEC) has established 11,705 polling stations. A total of 9,936,014 voters are eligible to cast their ballots. Counting is scheduled for Tuesday.

### 118 candidates elected unopposed

Across the 13 corporations, 153 candidates are contesting the mayoral posts. Of the 922 divisions in these corporations, candidates in 118 were elected unopposed. Polling is taking place in the remaining 804 divisions, where 3,073 candidates are standing.

### Extensive security arrangements

Some 36,351 police personnel have been deployed for election security, including 3,103 staff in route mobile teams. Authorities are also using 405 flying squads and have set up 414 check-posts and static surveillance teams.

A further 941 locations have been classified as highly sensitive and placed under close watch. Security has been strengthened at 1,788 sensitive locations, with drones and CCTV cameras used for continuous monitoring. In total, 150,000 personnel have been assigned to election duties.

### Coalition seeks to demonstrate strength

The elections are the first in the state since the coalition government took office. Coalition parties are seeking to demonstrate their strength, and their candidates have already been elected unopposed in several areas.

The results will be closely watched after the YSRCP won only 11 seats in the previous Assembly elections. In Kadapa, the home district of YSRCP chief and former Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan, coalition candidates have been elected unopposed as chairpersons in six municipalities and nagar panchayats. They have also won all 52 divisions of the Kadapa Municipal Corporation unopposed.

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Pavan Bandari

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I am content writer with six years of experience in entertainment and politics besides other modules as well.