Polling largely peaceful across eight civic bodies in North Andhra

Voters stand in queue at Dharmapuri government school to cast their votes in Vizianagaram.

Barring a few stray incidents, polling in eight civic bodies across three North Andhra districts — Vizianagaram, Srikakulam and Parvatipuram— was held peacefully on Sunday.

Vizianagaram recorded a turnout of 59.64% polling by 5 p.m., while Nellimarla, an adjacent town registered 77.96%. Bobbili, the historic town, recorded a turnout of 70.33%. The polling percentage is likely to go up as the State Election Commission allowed voters who were in the queue by 5 p.m to cast their votes.

Concerned over the low voter turnout, the Vizianagaram district administration repeatedly requested people, particularly employees, to cast their votes and participate in the democratic process.

TDP Mayor candidate Avanapu Bharagavi and YSRCP Mayor candidate Kolagatla Sravani along with five others are in the fray for the first citizen’s post of the city. The drop in voting percentage caused concern among the mayoral candidates and 169 corporator candidates.

Collector S.Ramsundar Reddy, SP A.R. Damodar visited polling booths and monitored the polling process and the law and order situation.

Ichchapuram, which was badly affected by Arnab cyclone, recorded a poll percentage of 64.9% . The ’ turnout in Palasa-Kasibugga municipality was 68.33%.

Srikakulam Collector Swapnil Dinakar Pundkar along with other officials expressed satisfaction over the peaceful conduct of polling in the two flood affected areas.

Women voters stand in queue at a polling booth near the rural police station in Parvatipuram Manyam district.

As far as Parvatipuram is concerned, poll percentage stood at 63.62%. Polling was peaceful in all 63 polling booths of the 36 wards in the district headquarters. Saluru, one of the oldest municipalities, recorded 65.58% by 5 p.m., while Palakonda town registered 62.4% in the evening.

Parvatipuram-Manyam Collector N. Prabhakar Reddy said that effective coordination among all officials helped the district administration to complete the election process smoothly in tribal areas also.