Anantapur: Curiously, counting officials noticed a slip dropped in the name of 'Nalacheruvu mandal drunkers youth’ in a ballot box of Karuvuvandlapalli in Nallacheruvu mandal. Their demand: supply of quality brands of liquor at the state government outlets.
The youths’ group also sought sale of cool beer of quality brands at the government-owned wine shops. The letter stated that the quality of liquor being sold in the state-owned outlets was poor.
This apart, officials on duty found that termites have damaged the ballot papers in the boxes from Gowdanapalli village’s 10th Polling station, in Madakasira mandal. Some 593 votes had been cast there.
The polling station of Gowdanahalli had a total of 1886 votes polled in the 9, 10 and 11 booths in the village. While two ballot boxes were safe, the 10th ballot box had been attacked by termites. The counting officials withheld the process for a few minutes and sought guidance from the higher authorities.
Finally, the counting officers found 175 ballots were affected while the other ballot papers were clear with the seal of the voting official. The counting process was continued after officials got clearance from the district election authorities.
