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70.66% voter turnout at AP municipal polls
Hyderabad: The first real electoral contest in Andhra Pradesh since 2019’s Lok Sabha and state assembly elections saw around 70
Hyderabad:
The first real electoral contest in Andhra Pradesh since 2019’s Lok Sabha and state assembly elections saw around 70.66% of voters exercise their franchise in elections for 71 municipalities and nagar panchayats held on Wednesday, state election commission (SEC) officials said. The votes will be counted on March 14 and the results will be announced on the same day, they added.
The voter turnout in 12 municipal corporations in the state, however, remained low and stood at 57.14% at 5 pm when the voting process concluded.
“The final polling percentage in both the municipalities and municipal corporations might go up slightly, as those who were in the queues at the time of closing hours are being allowed to cast their votes,” state election commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar said.
In all, 581 divisions in 12 municipal corporations and 1,632 wards in 71 municipalities and nagar panchayats went to polls on Wednesday. Of the total, representatives in 490 wards were elected unanimously.
According to reports reaching the SEC office, polling was largely peaceful, barring stray incidents of clashes between workers of the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in some areas.
“There was enthusiastic participation of voters in the polling process. Women, old people and physically challenged people, too, exercised their franchise in large numbers,” the SEC said.
While the elections to the gram panchayats held in four phases in February were on a non-party basis, the elections to the urban local bodies – municipalities, nagar panchayats and municipal corporations -- were held on party-basis.
Since this is the first major electoral battle in the state after the general elections in 2019, both the YSRCP and the TDP took them seriously. While YSRCP is hoping to retain its hold, the TDP has pulled out all stops to regain its lost ground in the state.
The YSRCP has already bagged Pulivendula, Punganur, Macherla and Piduguralla municipalities as candidates in majority of the wards in these municipalities were elected unanimously.
The TDP, however, accused the ruling party of resorting to large scale irregularities in the municipal elections by misusing official machinery and police forces.
TDP president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu alleged YSRCP leaders attacked TDP workers to prevent free and fair elections.
Naidu urged the SEC to take stringent action against the conniving officials and the erring YSRCP leaders. It was the duty of the SEC to punish the culprits responsible for the election violations and ensure a democratic polling process, he said.
