Tirupati: Officials overseeing the voter registrations for Graduate and Teacher constituencies in of Prakasam, Nellore and Chittoor districts have expressed concern over the low turnout. Only 47 per cent of the graduates as against the 2017 voter enrolments have enrolled their names so far.
The election commission had cancelled the 2017 voters' list and graduates were asked to enroll afresh for the next election to the graduate MLC post.
Graduate MLC constituency voters should re-register their names for every election unlike in the assembly and parliament polls. The voter registration process that got under way on October 1 would conclude on November 7.
The registration of voters is going on at a snail’s pace. Only 1,16,005 graduates and 2,925 teachers have registered their names in 30 days.
More than 37,820 graduates and 6895 teachers have registered their names in Prakasam and Bapatla districts, 32,444 and 1,004 in Nellore, 15,277 and 351 in Chittoor, 25,298 and 742 in Tirupati and 5,166 and 143 in Annamaiah districts.
In 2017, about 2,18,356 graduates and 20,257 teachers enrolled as voters for the graduate MLC election, but this number may need rise to about 3 lakhs in light of even the modest growth in graduates in the three former districts of Chittoor, Nellore, and Prakasam.
The low pace of voter registration is a worry to both candidates and political parties.
The ruling YSR Congress has announced the candidature of P Shyam Prasad Reddy for the graduates MLC election and the Opposition Telugu Desam is fielding Dr K Srikanth. The Progressive Democratic Front (PDF), which used to dominate the graduates and teachers MLC seats, backs M Venkateswar Reddy.
