Round 1 of local polls passes off peacefully

Amaravati: Polling for the first phase of panchayat elections passed off peacefully on Tuesday. The first phase of polling for 2,723 panchayats in Andhra Pradesh ended peacefully with 81.78 per cent turnout, the State Election Commission said here on Tuesday.

"Elections were conducted in 18 revenue divisions across 12 districts in Andhra Pradesh. Krishna district recorded the highest percentage of 85.06," the SEC said.Polling began at 6.30 am and ended 3.30 pm, while counting of votes began at 4 pm. Polling was also held to elect 20,157 ward members.

With the completion of the first phase, the polls will be conducted till February 21 in another three phases. The SEC hoped that the same trends would continue in the subsequent phases. According to the Panchayat Raj department, elections were to be held for 3,249 posts of panchayat sarpanchs.

However, since 525 were unanimously elected and no nomination was filed for a village in Nellore district, polls were held for 2,723 panchayats.

As many as 7,506 candidates contested for sarpanch posts and 43,601 were in the fray for ward members.

The elections were held using ballot paper and without any political party symbols. A total of 29,732 polling stations were set up, of which 3,458 were identified as sensitive and 3,594 hypersensitive, the department said.

All necessary precautions were taken as per Covid-19 protocol amid tight security and PPE kits were provided to voters infected by the virus, it added.

Webcasting was set up in about 7,000 centres. State Election Officer Girija Shankar monitored the election process from the Command Control Centre through webcasting.

NOTA was made available for the first time in these elections.

The interesting part of the polling was that people in large numbers, including aged and disabled came out in large numbers. A 106 -year-old woman named Gonesani Papamma of Peddayammanur, Uyyalawada mandal in Kurnool district came forward to cast her vote with the help of local police.

A polling agent Noor Basha died of a heart attack in Kakumanu mandal at Garikapada in Guntur district. He died on the way to the hospital after suffering a heart attack.

Juttika Srinivas, a contender for sarpanch post in Tokalapudi village in Veeravasaram mandal in East Godavari district, was arrested on charges of luring voters with money.