Despite delay for hours in voter turnout for exercising their franchise at a few centres, the final phase of panchayat elections in the Machilipatnam division of Krishna district was peaceful on Wednesday.
Huge turnout of voters was witnessed at Challapalli and Laxmipuram polling centres, and people stood for hours in long queues till 1 p.m. More than 100 voters from these two panchayats were waiting in queues at the polling centres by 1.p.m.
“All voters in the queue have been allowed to case their vote. Polling completed by 3.45 p.m. Counting process began at 4 p.m. and results are likely to get delayed,” said Challapalli Special Election Officer E. Chittibabu. There were no untoward incidents reported during the additional time of voting also, which was permitted by the Election Commission officials.
In Avanigadda mandal, tension prevailed for some time in Mogumudi and Tungalavaripalem panchayats, where details of 16 voters did not match with the list the polling staff possessed.
Avanigadda Special Election Officer and DRDA Project Director K. Siva Sankar intervened and allowed the voters to cast their votes. “We allowed the voters after their details and identity cards matched with our addition and deletion list. However, the process of matching and confirmation of these voters was done based on the election commission guidelines,” said Mr. Siva Sankar.
There was no impact of the ongoing agitation against bifurcation of the State on the elections in the 12 mandals in Machilipatnam division.
Gudivada and Machilipatnam revenue divisions witnessed 89 per cent polling, according to an official press release. Above 90 per cent voting was recorded in Machilipatnam, Mopidevi, Koduru, Ghantasala, Nandivada, and Kalidindi mandals.
