Incident-free polling reported in Anantapur district

Anantapur: The third phase of panchayat polls recorded more than 80 per cent of voting in 19 mandals in Anantapur revenue division in the district. Polling was peaceful and incident-free.

The division witnessed 32.21 percent polling by 9.30 am and it went up to 48 per cent by 10.30 am. The voter turnout increased to 61.25% by 11.30 am and 70.23% by 12.30 pm. Polling percentage finally recorded at 3 pm was 80 per cent.

The total number of panchayats stands at 379 in the revenue division. As many as 23 sarpanches have been elected unanimously in the revenue division.

In all 356 panchayats have gone for elections for which the number of nominations filed was 2,291 and those rejected stood at 328. Total 1,027 nominations were withdrawn. There are 936 candidates contesting for the posts of sarpanches in 356 panchayats. The counting process has commenced immediately after the polling in different panchayats.

Meanwhile, District Collector Gandham Chandrudu visited a polling centre in Veerapuram village in Tadipatri mandal on Wednesday morning. He asked MPDO Rangarao to start the counting process in all the counting centres simultaneously and declare the results at the earliest.