Thousands of tribal people from the interior villages in the Maoist hotbed in Alluri Sitharama Raju district exercised their franchise on May 13 (Monday). Many voters belonging to the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) exercised their franchise for the first time as the authorities arranged vehicles to ferry them to polling stations.
Though a thin crowd was witnessed at the polling stations in Araku, Paderu and Rampachodavaram Assembly constituencies in the first two hours, voting picked up as the day progressed.
By 4 p.m., the polling percentage went up to 56 in the Araku constituency while the same for Paderu and Rampachodavaram stood at 46 and 60 respectively.
Also read: Andhra Pradesh elections updates- May 13
In total, 1,021 polling stations were set up in the district, of which 304 were set up in Araku Assembly constituency, 318 in Paderu and 399 in Rampachodavaram constituencies. Of the total, 286 polling stations do not have Internet connectivity.
Many voters from these constituencies used to shy away from voting during the previous elections owing to poor road connectivity, polling stations located far away from their hamlets, tough geographical terrain and most importantly the prevalence of Left-wing extremism. The officials said the constituencies might record a good polling percentage this time as buses and jeeps were arranged to ferry the tribal people to the polling stations.
A special bus was arranged to ferry around 50 voters from the interior Kalyanagummi village in Gummakota panchayat of Devarapalli mandal to the nearest polling station at Medaparthi. The officials said there were two ways to reach Medaparthi from Kalyanagummi—either a 15-km trek in the hill terrain or a travel of 50 km by road on the Anakapalli district route.
“The poor transportation facilities kept the tribal people away from voting. After taking permission from the Election Commission of India, we arranged an RTC bus to ferry the voters to the polling station. They were dropped at their village after they exercised their franchise. Many tribal people voted for the first time today,” said Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) Project Officer and Returning Officer for Araku Assembly constituency V. Abhishek.
Many voters from Dayathi, Jeenabadu, Gumma and Madrebu villagers in Ananthagiri mandals used to ride their horses to the polling stations. “We arranged seven jeeps for them this time and more than 200 tribal people from these four villages were ferried to the polling stations at MPP school, Peddakota panchayat and Government Tribal Welfare School at Jeenabadu,” he said.
The authorities also arranged jeeps for over 1,000 voters from Bongaputtu and Kosaputtu villages in Munchingputtu mandal along the Andhra-Odisha Border (AOB), a Maoist-hit area.
“The nearest polling station for these two villages is around 18 km away at Lakshmipuram. The polling station recorded zero polling in the previous elections. We arranged 10 jeeps to ferry the voters this time and the response was great,” Mr. Abhishek added.
Poll equipment airlifted
Meanwhile, the Indian Air Force (IAF) pressed into the service a chopper to transport men and material for the elections in the tribal pockets hit by Left-wing extremism in Rampachodavaram Assembly constituency.
Personnel and poll equipment were airlifted to Gurthedu which is inhibited by the Konda Reddi tribe, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG).
A chopper carrying the polling staff and equipment landing near a polling station in the Gurthedu area of Rampachodavaram Assembly constituency on Monday. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The helicopter dropped the polling staff and EVMs from Rampachodavaram to the Gurthedu in the dense Maredumilli forest. The polling personnel landed near the polling booths at Gurthedu, Pathakota and Bodda Gandi, nearly 40 km from the Maredumilli point.
“We airlifted polling personnel on a helicopter for the elections in the Gurthedu area, where six people cast their vote. The EVMs and polling personnel returned safely after teh poll,” Rampachodavaram SI S. Prasanth Kumar said.
Rampachodavaram Assembly constituency recorded 66% voter turnout as the polling ended at 4. p.m. as per the norms for the Maoist-hit contituencies. The transportation of EVMs was delayed for some time owing to rain, said Mr. Prasanth Kumar.
“The final poll percentage will be declared only after all EVMs from all the polling booths reached here,” said Mr. Prasanth Kumar, Returning Officer for Rampachodavaram constituency.
