Elections in Prakasam largely peaceful

Ongole: Municipal elections for Ongole Municipal Corporation, Addanki Municipality, and Chimakurthy Municipality in Prakasam district were held on Sunday with strong voter turnout.

Ongole MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy and his wife, MLA Damacharla Janardhana Rao and his wife cast their votes at the polling station in the Municipal High School at Ram Nagar.

Former minister Balineni Srinivas Reddy voted at Jubilant Public School in Lawyer Pet. The coalition alliance Ongole mayor candidate, Nallamalli Sri Silpa, and her husband, Balu, voted at Girls High School in Bandlamitta. Lanka Dinakar, Chairman of the Twenty Point Programme, voted in Division 5 of the Ongole Municipal Corporation. Meanwhile, the YSRCP MLA Dr Buchepalli Siva Prasad Reddy was put under house arrest at his home in Darsi.

The Ongole corporation elections appeared peaceful overall. No untoward incident was reported from any of the 62 divisions. Rebel candidates contested in almost every division, so many feared clashes. But strict police security helped keep the situation calm. Except for St Xavier’s High School, polling was said to have been peaceful everywhere else. However, the opposition YSRCP alleged that its candidates were called to police stations and threatened.

After polling hours ended, brief tension was seen at the St Xavier’s School polling station in Ongole. YSRCP mayor candidate Kuppam Prasad argued with an Additional Superintendent of Police over agents and voters who were still inside the centre.

He alleged that YSRCP supporters were being troubled and that TDP people were inside. The Additional SP said the police were acting strictly as per election rules. He said all voters who had reached the centre by 5 PM were allowed to vote. He advised the candidate to take any objection to the Presiding Officer.

Earlier in the day, District Collector P Raja Babu personally watched the polling in Ongole. The Joint Collector oversaw Chimakurthy, and the Sub-Collector was the Special Officer for Addanki. Superintendent of Police V Harshavardhan Raju visited various polling centres in Ongole, Addanki and Chimakurthy.

He checked the voting queues and the security arrangements. He told the police staff to stay alert and follow the election code. He said strong security was in place, with webcasting and CCTV cameras.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Naresh Nandam

Naresh.Nandam[email protected]

Naresh Babu Nandam works as a Special Correspondent at The Hans India and primarily covers the erstwhile Prakasam district. He has a master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication and a bachelor's degree in Law. He has around twenty years of experience in print and broadcast journalism. He is a certified Google News Initiative trainer for fact-checking and online verification. Outside his journalism work, he is an OSINT practitioner and takes part in CTF challenges. He is the author of a spiritual thriller titled 'The Amber Scroll', available on Amazon.in.

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