Over 60.91% polling in MPTC, ZPTC polls in Andhra Pradesh

Amaravati: Barring stray incidents, the elections to mandal and zilla parishad territorial constituencies in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday passed off peacefully. Over 60 percent polling was reported which according to Panchayat Raj Principal Secretary Gopal Krishna Dwivedi was "remarkably successful".

Stray incidents of clashes were reported from a few districts but overall the polling went off smoothly, official sources in the State Election Commission here said. A polling official died of heart attack while on duty in Guntur district. Polling was stalled in a couple of places because of faulty ballot papers, the sources said. The Jana Sena Party symbol was found missing in the ballot paper in Amalapuram Rural, resulting in the suspension of polling. In a polling station in SPS Nellore district, a BJP worker allegedly snatched the ballot box and dipped it in water, forcing the officials to cancel the polling. A re-poll will be conducted in the village on Friday, the sources said.

In half a dozen villages on the Andhra-Odisha border in Vizianagaram district, polling was hampered due to a jurisdictional dispute that was pending adjudication in the Supreme Court. Polling was conducted from 7 am to 5 pm across the State as the High Court gave the green signal for the parishad elections but counting of votes will not be taken up as scheduled on April 10, till the petition in the court is disposed of (probably on April 15).

At Rajupalem village in Guntur district, workers of the ruling YSR Congress and the main opposition Telugu Desam clashed, resulting in minor injuries to a couple of persons, police said. Similar incidents were reported in Krishna and Prakasam districts as well, but the police immediately quelled the mobs to bring the situation under control.

Election was conducted for 7,220 MPTC and 515 ZPTC seats for which 20,840 candidates were in the fray. For the record, the TDP boycotted the election but technically it remained in the contest as the ballot papers were printed before it announced its decision. The YSRC already bagged 2,271 MPTC and 126 ZPTC seats unopposed. The TDP won 100 MPTCs unanimously in the election process that initially commenced in March last year.