ZPTC, MPTC polls peaceful in ASR, Visakhapatnam; turnout 82.51% in Visakhapatnam, provisional 59.98% in ASR

Voters wait at a polling booth at MPTC segment, peddalabudu in Araku Valley on Thursday.

Polling for the Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) and Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC) elections passed off peacefully in Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) and Visakhapatnam districts on Thursday.

In ASR district, voting began at 7 a.m. for 11 ZPTC and 172 MPTC seats and was conducted in a free and peaceful manner, officials said, with no untoward incident. Turnout rose from 12.3% at 9 a.m. to 27.6% at 11 a.m., 45.4% at 1 p.m. and 57.2% at 3 p.m. By 5 p.m., 59.98% of the electors in the 11 mandals had voted, according to provisional figures.

Collector T. Nishanthi monitored the process from the command control room at the Collectorate. She toured several polling stations, examined the details uploaded on the monitoring application and signed the visitors’ registers.

The absence of incidents in the A.S.R. district marked a departure from the history of rural body elections in the agency tracts, which were marked by security risks, disruption, and boycott calls linked to Left-Wing Extremism. A former official who worked in the region attributed the change to stepped-up security deployment, the decline of Maoist influence, presence along the Andhra-Odisha border, and preventive policing.

Ballot boxes were received at the reception centre at the Government Degree College in Paderu. Ms. Nishanthi will address a press conference at noon on Friday.

In Visakhapatnam, 1,34,000 of the 1,62,407 electors, or 82.51%, exercised their franchise in the elections to four ZPTC and 53 MPTC seats, according to final figures from the district administration. The turnout was up from 71.23% at 3 p.m. Women accounted for 69,076 of the votes polled, against 64,924 by men.

Voters queuing up to exercise their franchise at a poling station at Saripalli village of Pendurthi mandal for the ZPTC-MPTC elections on Thursday.

Polling began at 7 a.m. in Anandapuram, Bheemunipatnam, Padmanabham and Pendurthi mandals, which fall outside the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) limits, and ended around the scheduled time of 5 p.m. at almost all stations.

Anandapuram recorded the highest turnout at 84.76%, followed by Padmanabham (81.89), Pendurthi (81.40) and Bheemunipatnam (80.97). A total of 203 polling stations were set up, with 13 candidates in the fray for the ZPTC seats and 117 for the MPTC seats.

Collector and District Election Officer M. Abhishikth Kishore visited polling stations at Maddi Government High School in Padmanabham and asked officials to remain vigilant. Joint Collector Gobbilla Vidyadhari monitored the polling from the control room at the Zilla Parishad office, where general observer S.S. Shobhika also reviewed the process. Expenditure observer P.V. Sandeep Reddy expressed satisfaction with the arrangements after visiting polling stations in the four mandals.

Ballot boxes were being moved to strong rooms. Mr. Kishore directed officials to report polling percentages only after verifying Form 25 documents. Counting in Visakhapatnam will begin at 8 a.m. on November 7, when results are also scheduled to be declared in Alluri Sitharama Raju.