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Record 80% polling
Seemandra: Record 80% Polling, The Seemandhra region which went to polls on Wednesday saw the 40,709 polling booths thronging with voters throughout the day across the 13 districts of the region.
- Both YSR Congress, Telugu Desam upbeat over higher nos
- Sporadic incidents of attacks and clashes mar the polling
- Narendra Modi calls up Naidu, enquires about poll trend
Hyderabad: The Seemandhra region which went to polls on Wednesday saw the 40,709 polling booths thronging with voters throughout the day across the 13 districts of the region. According to the Election Commission (EC), the polling percentage is expected to go up to 80 per cent. The region witnessed neck-to-neck fight and it became difficult even for seasoned pollsters to hazard a guess as to which way the wind was blowing.
Following the high turn-out of women and young voters, both the TDP and the YSRCP leaders have begun drawing their own inferences. Both are citing the high turn-out of women voters and young electors as an indication of a swelling support to them and claim to be headed for a landslide victory. Outdoing their male counterparts in exercising their franchise, women electors were seen swarming the polling stations in urban and rural areas. Not to be fallen behind in deciding the first government of the residuary AP, several first-time voters and young voters too flocked to the polling booths at scores of Assembly segments. Three voters died of heart attack at Nandyal, Nuziveed and Gudivada. Right from the illiterate youth to the highly educated, the youth turned up in large numbers and cast their votes across Seemandhra. Lakhs of people went to their native places from Hyderabad and some even came all the way from New Delhi. However, the voters did not prefer to disclose whom they had voted for.
Sporadic incidents of violence were reported from several places. Tense situation prevailed in faction-ridden Jammalamadugu Assembly constituency in Kapada district. YSRCP activists blocked TDP candidate Ramasubba Reddy when he tried to proceed to the polling centre at Godeganuru in Jammalamadugu mandal. As he refused to listen to them, a clash ensued between the YSRCP and TDP activists.
Violence was also reported from Ramireddypalem village in Rompicherla mandal in Guntur district when YSRCP leaders pushed out a BJP agent from the polling centre. Police lathi-charged the clashing groups and chased them away.
In Tirupati, the YSRCP activists allegedly attacked a poll official, Sriramulu. Tension prevailed in Nadavalur in Ramachandrapuram mandal , 15 km from Kakinada in East Godavari district here, on Wednesday as the party activists did not even spare media persons. In the indiscriminate attack by the YSRCP, the OB van of the two private channels were damaged; a cameraman was chased and attacked with sticks, resulting in bleeding injuries. A group of Maoists burnt an EVM and a vehicle at Palakagidi of Koyyuru Mandal in Visakhapatnam district before fleeing. Repolling was ordered at the polling station, a police official said.
A senior police official said two police officers - Appal Naidu and Rajesh Kumar - came under attack and their vehicles were also damaged after a mob pelted them with stones when they tried to regulate a polling booth in Jammalamadugu in Kadapa district. Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Bhanwalal said that cases have been booked against those responsible for the incident. In Guntur, the vehicle of Narsaraopet LS candidate Rayapati Sambasiva Rao was damaged.
While the polling was on the BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi rang up TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu to inquire about the polling in Seemandhra. Modi wanted to know about the simultaneous polling for 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats in the region, TDP sources said. Expressing his satisfaction over the heavy turnout, Naidu conveyed that he was confident of the TDP-BJP alliance sweeping the polls. Meanwhile, the TDP complained to the EC in Delhi about the alleged attacks on policemen and media at some places and also about malfunctioning of EVMs. The TDP chief strongly condemned the attack on party Assembly candidates from Mydukuru and Jammalamadugu in Kadapa district, allegedly by the workers of the YSR Congress. He also condemned the attack on the police personnel at Jammalamadugu.
