Nellore: Tension prevailed in Pullaneellapalli of Chejerla mandal in Atmakur segment of SPSR Nellore district when Atmakur legislator Mekapati Gautham Reddy of YSRC and former legislator Kommi Lakshmaiah Naidu of TD came to blows at a polling station on Thursday.
Gautham rushed to the spot when he came to know that polling officials were not allowing the agent of the YSR Congress into the booth following objections raised by TD leaders.
A heated argument took place between Gautham and Lakshmi Naidu on the issue following which they indulged in jostling and pushing each other. In order to bring the situation under control, police on the spot intervened and managed to defuse the tensions.
Meanwhile, at Idimepalli, YSRC men attacked TD cadre at a constituency at Sarvepalli. YSRC cadre roughed up an independent candidate, Vijaya Raj, at Thoderu, the native of YSRC nomine for Sarvepalli, Kakani Govardhan Reddy.
Elsewhere, TD and YSRC cadre locked horns over a petty issue at a polling station in Venkatagiri too. Police pacified them after assuring the two groups to book cases as desired by them.
Polling registered was to the extent of 69.90 per cent in SPSR Nellore district by 5 PM. The percentage, however, was set to go up with serpentine queues being witnessed before the polling stations in different parts of the district even after 7 pm waiting to exercise their franchise.
Meanwhile, some of the voters boycotted polls at Buradapalli and Kummaripalem in Chittamur mandal blaming politicians for not developing their villages.
Polling commenced between one and two hours behind schedule in many places following malfunctioning of EVM's. With people lining up to vote from the early hours, the situation had caused tension to the polling officials in several parts of the district.
The snags have been attributed to some technical issues with newly introduced VVPATs (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trial).
The problems were settled few hours after receiving the complaints either by replacing or rectifying the snag by technicians of Bharat Electronics Ltd.
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