Incidents Mar ZPTC, MPTC Polling In Chittoor, Tirupati
Tension was evident at Saptagiri Nagar polling station in Chandragiri when YSRC leader Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy entered the booth and Chandragiri MLA Pulivarthi Nani too arrived there.
Tirupati:Sporadic incidents, including an alleged assault on a Telugu Desam candidate and claims of bogus voting, were reported during the ZPTC and MPTC elections in Chittoor and Tirupati districts on Thursday.
Polling was held for 24 ZPTC and 300 MPTC seats in Chittoor district, and 31 ZPTC and 307 MPTC seats in Tirupati district.
In Chittoor district, tension prevailed at the Nadamuru polling station in Kuppam after TD MPTC candidate Palani was attacked by YSRC activist Jayakumar Reddy. Jayakumar Reddy allegedly campaigned near the polling station, asking voters not to support the TD. Palani questioned him and was assaulted. Party workers shifted Palani to a hospital.
Tension was evident at Saptagiri Nagar polling station in Chandragiri when YSRC leader Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy entered the booth and Chandragiri MLA Pulivarthi Nani too arrived there. The two attempted to lock horns. Police intervened and controlled the situation.
Incidents were also reported at polling stations in Sainagar panchayat, Mangalam and Oteru in the Chandragiri constituency. YSRC leaders, including Chevireddy, alleged bogus voting and rigging, claiming that TD workers had brought outsiders to cast votes. At Sainagar, Chevireddy confronted a group in a room, following which its members ran away.
In neighbouring Annamayya district, a group allegedly entered a polling station at Lakkireddigaripalle in KV Palle mandal and threw the ballot box outside.
Chittoor district has 27 ZPTC seats, of which three — Yuddanapalli, Bangarupalem and Puthalapattu — were elected unanimously. Of the 370 MPTC seats, elections to 70 were unanimous. Polling was held for the remaining seats, with 89 candidates contesting 24 ZPTC seats and 702 candidates contesting 300 MPTC seats.
The district had 10,26,821 voters and 1,138 polling stations, including 306 sensitive and 321 highly sensitive centres. Webcasting was arranged at 228 stations. The tentative polling percentage was 64.15 by 4.30pm.
In Tirupati district, four of the 35 ZPTC seats — Srikalahasti, Yerpedu, Naidupeta and Ozili — saw unanimous elections. Of the 444 MPTC seats, 137 had unanimous elections. Polling was held for the remaining 31 ZPTC and 307 MPTC seats, with 126 and 832 candidates in the fray, respectively.
The district had 1,505 polling stations, with webcasting facilities evident at all centres. A total of 10,565 election personnel and around 2,500 police personnel were on duty.
According to the district report, 7,52,814 votes were polled by 5pm out of the total 11,78,638 voters, taking the tentative turnout to 63.87 per cent.
