Vijayawada: All set for MLC elections

Vijayawada: The stage is set for the conduct of graduates' and teachers' MLC elections on Monday. According to Chief Electoral Officer Mukesh Kumar Meena, all arrangements for smooth conduct of the polls have been put in place. He told the media that polling would begin at 8 am and end by 4 pm. Counting would take place on March 16. Polls are being held for three MLC constituencies of graduates, two teachers and three local body constituencies. In five local body constituencies, the polls have been unanimous. Polling will take place in 1,538 polling stations, said Meena.

Though the EC claims that all-out arrangements have been made for free and fair polls, money continues to flow in many parts. There is a lurking fear that money power and muscle power will play a major role on Monday.

In Tirupati, District Collector K Venkataramana Reddy monitored the distribution process at the SPW College. He said that the poll staff should stay at their respective polling centres on Sunday night and complete formalities by 6 am so that polling can begin from 8 am. There will be webcasting of the polling process at all centres which will be monitored by the Chief Electoral Officer, Returning Officer and District Election Officer.

Tirupati district has 86,941 graduate voters and 6,132 teacher voters. A total of 62 polling centres were set up for graduates' elections in the district as against 37 centres for teachers MLC elections. In addition, some auxiliary polling centres are there. From the graduates' constituency 22 candidates have been contesting while eight candidates are in fray from the teachers' constituency.

Meanwhile, CPM party workers claimed that they had caught some YSRCP workers who were distributing money at Yashoda Nagar in the city with the help of volunteers. CPM workers have recorded the incident on mobile phones which has gone viral on social media.

In another case, an audio clip went viral in which a ruling party leader was directing the auto drivers of a stand to be present at a particular polling booth by 7 am on Monday.

He told them to come clean shaved and neatly dressed so that they would look like graduates. In Nellore, polls will be held in four revenue divisions of the district. District Collector KVN Chakradhar Babu said necessary infrastructure facilities like drinking water have been provided at all polling stations.

The collector said that the voting mark should be done only with a pen issued by the Central Election Commission. In YSR district, elections will be held in 36 mandals. According to Joint Collector and Election Returning Officer (ERO) Saikanth Varma, a total of 131 polling centres have been provided. In Srikakulam, 63 polling centres arranged for MLC elections in Srikakulam. Tight security arrangements have been made to prevent any untoward incidents.