1.70L voters to exercise franchise in 4 civic bodies in Nellore

Nellore: Out of 98 wards in four municipalities in the district where municipal polls are being conducted, members have been elected unanimously for 44 wards. From Thursday, candidates in the fray are going to start their campaign in the wards as Wednesday is the last day for withdrawing the nominations.

It may be recalled that polls are being conducted for Atmakur, Naidupet, Sullurpet, and Venkatagiri. Members for 21 wards in Naidupet out of 25, 14 in Sullurpet out of 25, 3 member out of 25 members in Venkatagiri and 6 members in Atmakur out of 23 wards were elected unanimously. The ruling party bagged many places. Polls are going to be held on March 10 and counting will be held on March 14.

District Collector K V N Chakradhar Babu visited Bangarupet in Venkatagiri on Wednesday and asked the officials to make arrangements for free and fair polls in the town. He visited the school premises and observed the ongoing works under Nadu-Nedu and directed the officials to maintain quality in works. He also asked them to follow the menu in the school.

The Collector visited Viswodaya Government Degree College and conducted a review with the officials. He asked them to verify the wards where a low percentage of polling recorded in the previous polls and directed them to improve it creating awareness among voters. He said power supply shouldn't be disturbed in the polling station for continuous webcasting.

He said they are taking foolproof measures for conducting the polls deploying strong security at the polling stations and counting places. Micro-observers are also being engaged at all hyper-sensitive and sensitive polling stations for monitoring the situation. He added Section 144 would be imposed at all polling stations surrounding 100 metres for preventing untoward incidents. He said around 1.70 lakh voters are likely to exercise their franchise in the four municipalities on March 10.

He also said they are conducting repolls for 22 panchayats in 15 mandals for 4 sarpanch positions and 54 ward members. The district administration will conduct the polls on March 15 and the notification has been released, he added. Gudur Sub Collector R Gopala Krishna and others were present.