Arrangements are in place for the 14th round of Assembly elections in the Union Enclave Yanam scheduled to be held on Monday. As many as 11 candidates, including seven independents, are in the fray. As many as 36,557 voters, including 19,013 women, will be exercising their franchise.
Polling will be held in 35 stations all over the town and voters have to cast their vote by using the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM).
The EVMs have already reached the town and a training programme had already been conducted for the staff to be on the election duty. Officials made arrangements for the webcasting and special focus was made on the polling stations identified as sensitive and hyper sensitive.
Malladi Krishna Rao of Congress, who served as MLA in the last four consecutive terms, is seeking re-election, while Tirukoti Bhairava Swamy is the NR Congress candidate. The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Ramadas Kanakala, a retired principal from the town, while Manchala Satya Sai Kumar is contesting from the Anna DMK. All contestants winded up their campaign on Saturday evening.
The campaign made by actor Nagma in support of Mr. Krishna Rao was a special attraction.
The Election Commission deputed 250 staff members to conduct the polling along with three companies of para-military force.
In all, 10 check-posts were arranged in the town to monitor the movement of people of East Godavari district and surrounding places into the town.
Along with the wine shops in the town, liquor shops in the villages of East Godavari district located abutting the town were also closed from Saturday.
Koushik Haldar of West Bengal has arrived here as general election observer , while Gajendra Singh is on the job of expenditure observer. “We have made all the arrangements for the peaceful conduct of the elections,” said P. Partiban, Regional Administrator of Yanam and Returning Officer.
