Repolling CONDUCTED peacefully at TWO booths

Tirupati: Repolling at two polling booths in Tirupati was held peacefully for the Prakasam, Chittoor and Nellore graduates' constituency but not without the high drama created by the ruling YSRCP cadres with the help of a few police sleuths. The repolling was necessitated following the large-scale rigging during the polling held on Monday. District Collector and Election Officer K Venkataramana Reddy said that the polling ended peacefully at 229 polling centre at government girls high school, Chinna Bazar street and 233 polling centre in ZP high school in Satyanarayanapuram of the city.

He said Srikalahasti RDO Rama Rao and Gudur RDO Kiran Kumar were appointed as special officers at the 229 and 233 polling booths respectively and voter slips were distributed with the help of VROs. Web casting was arranged and was monitored by the Collector from the Collectorate. Videography was done outside the polling centre.

The Collector added that at 229 polling centre out of 579 voters 287 could cast their votes with a percentage of 49.57 per cent while the 233 polling centre, witnessed 44.07 per cent polling as only 349 cast their vote out of 792 voters. The overall poll percentage stood at 46.49 per cent. After the polling, the ballot boxes were sealed and sent to the strong room in Chittoor amid tight security where the counting of votes took place on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Left parties have alleged rigging in the repoll also. They alleged that the ruling party leaders have entered the 233 polling booth. CPM leader Kandarapu Murali said that Tirupati MP M Gurumoorthy, corporation deputy mayor B Abhinay Reddy have entered the booth along with the candidate P Shyam Prasad Reddy. When questioned, police replied saying that those having vehicle pass can be allowed into booths and forcibly pushed PDF candidate's general agent Gangaraju out of the polling booth by CI Chandrasekhar and other police staff.

Murali condemned the behaviour of the CI saying that he humiliated the PDF candidate's general agent while supporting the ruling party leaders.

They complained about the rude behaviour of CI Chandrasekhar to the Election Commission, he said.