Heavy rain delays VMC vote counting by five hours

Election personnel counting votes polled in the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation elections at Andhra Loyola College in Vijayawada on Tuesday.

Amid heavy rain, election personnel began counting votes polled in the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) elections at Andhra Loyola College in the city on Tuesday.

Though the counting process was scheduled to begin at 8 a.m., heavy rain delayed its commencement by more than five hours as officials had to make fresh arrangements. Water entered the college premises, making it difficult for personnel to carry out their duties.

Around 3 p.m., counting of postal ballots began. NDA mayoral candidate Vangaveeti Radha Krishna secured the highest number of votes, with 141. YSRCP candidate and former Mayor Rayana Bhagyalakshmi polled 63 votes, while independent candidate and former Vijayawada Police Commissioner A.B. Venkateswara Rao secured 31 votes.

The city has 8,05,797 voters across 86 divisions, of whom 4,46,021 exercised their franchise on Sunday (November 1).

As of 9.45 p.m. on Tuesday, 1,80,199 votes polled in the mayoral election had been counted. Mr. Radha Krishna was leading with 1,14,223 votes, while Ms. Bhagyalakshmi had secured 55,166 votes.

Results for 33 divisions had also been declared by then. The TDP won 20 divisions, the Jana Sena Party (JSP) 11, and the BJP and YSRCP one each.

The counting process was expected to continue until 10.30 p.m.

The NDA also won the municipalities of Kondapalli, Tiruvuru, Jaggayyapeta and Nandigama. TDP candidate K. Amulya and JSP candidate Pasupuleti Madhavi were elected chairpersons of Kondapalli and Tiruvuru municipalities, respectively. In Nandigama, TDP candidate Shakamuru Vamsidhar was elected chairperson, while TDP candidate Vineetha Narendrula won the Jaggayyapeta municipality.