Less then half of the 1,08,632 graduate voters in Krishna district exercised their franchise in the MLC Krishna-Guntur Graduates election for the Legislative Council on Thursday. The polling went off peaceful with no untoward incidents being recorded.
A polling percentage of 44.89 per cent was recorded in Krishna with 48,768 voters including 33,749 men and 15,019 women cast their vote in the 159 polling centres.
Election observer B. Rajasekhar, Krishna Collector Buddhaprakash M.Jyothi visited several polling centres in the district.
The highest polling percentage of 54.58 per centwas recorded in Nuzvid revenue division with 9,673 graduates casting their vote. Second highest polling percentage of 49.94 per cent was recorded in Machilipatnam division. Gudivada division stood third in polling percentage with 6,292 graduate voters casting their vote. The polling percentage recorded in the division was 46.05. The polling percentage was lowest in Vijayawada revenue division even though 24,862 voters exercised the franchise. However the percentage of polling was just 40.53 in the division.
After the polling the ballot boxes were moved to the respective revenue divisional offices.
The ballot boxes of polling stations in Vijayawada Revenue division were secured in the strongroom in the premises of Bishop Azaraiah High School.
The collector said that all the ballot boxes will ultimately transported to the strongroom established in the counting centre at Guntur.
The collector thanked the polling officials and police for the smooth conduct of the election. The credit of an incident-free election goes to the official and police, he said.
Polling peaceful
In Guntur, the polling process was closely monitored by District Collector and Returning Officer S. Suresh Kumar and observer B. Rajasekhar. Tight security arrangements were made by the police, who imposed restrictions in the vicinity of polling stations. Mr. Suresh Kumar stated in a press release that the average polling percentage in the two districts was 45.53 with Guntur district recorded 46.45 per cent and Krishna 44.64 per cent.
Of the total number of 219,080 voters (Guntur 110,448 and Krishna 108,632) 99,973 cast their votes (Guntur 51,302 and Krishna 48,491). Nuzvid division recorded the highest polling of 54.59 per cent while Vijayawada had the lowest at 40.17 per cent. Narsaraopet division recorded 51.92 per cent, Tenali 50, Machilipatnam 45.94, Gudivada 45.60 and Guntur 41.97.
A total number of 19 candidates are in the fray with Chigurupati Varaprasad (TDP) and independents Boddu Nageswara Rao and A.S. Ramakrishna being the frontrunners.
