Polling in Narsipatnam, Elamanchili peaceful

Voters turn up in large numbers in both municipalities. As the day wore on more women turned up at the booths. By the afternoon hectic polling was witnessed.

Voters at a polling booth at Peda Boddepalli in Narsipatnam on Sunday.

Polling for the municipal election at Narsipatnam and Elamanchili in the district on Sunday was incident-free. The heavy security gave no scope for any mischief.

At Saradanagar in Narsipatnam, a polling official was shifted by the RDO after allegations of his bias towards a party. The polling was dull in the morning with more women visiting temples to perform ‘puja’ to the village goddess on the eve of Ugadi, the Telugu New Year day. As the day wore on more women turned up at the booths. By the afternoon hectic polling was witnessed. Official figures said 76.41 per cent of the 44,097 electorate voted totalling 33,574 ballots at 54 booths.

District Collector S. Solomon Arokia Raj and Superintendent of Police Vikramjeet Duggal made a visit to the polling stations.

At Elamanchili too the polling was peaceful. Voting picked up by 9 a.m. and the trend continued to reach 75 per cent by 3 p.m. Reports said the polling was 83 per cent. For the 23 wards, 36 booths were set up to enable an electorate of 32,459 voters. The Collector and Joint Collector Praveen Kumar visited the polling station at Kokkirapalli.

At both the towns, influential TDP leaders -- former minister Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu and Visakha Dairy chairman Adari Tulasi Rao -- have their kin in the fray for the municipal chairperson posts.