There was brisk pace of polling for the Zilla Parishad elections in the naxal-affected villages of Manthani, Sircilla and Jagtial revenue divisions in Karimnagar district on Sunday.
Since morning, the people formed serpentine queues to cast their votes. Braving blistering heat wave conditions, the villagers arrived in large numbers to exercise their franchise. The voters have cast their votes on ballot papers in this election. No untoward incident was reported in any polling station . In Manthani revenue division, the polling process was completed at 4 p.m. itself because of it is located on the borders of Chhattisgarh and under naxal threat.
Collector M. Veerabrahmaiah and election observer C. Parthasarathi inspected various polling stations. The district police made unprecedented security arrangements by deploying additional police forces and webcasting the polling process outside the polling stations.
ADVERTISEMENT
The authorities exuded confidence that the polling percentage would cross 80 per cent during the first phase.
The novel initiative of using webcast technology by the district police during the first phase of elections to the Zilla Parishad had yielded good results without any untoward incident in Karimnagar district .
ADVERTISEMENT
Superintendent of Police V. Shiva Kumar had distributed the tablets to the police officers from the rank of Sub-Inspector, Circle Inspector and Deputy Superintendent of Police to webcast the polling process outside the polling stations in the sensitive and hypersensitive polling stations in the district. The webcast was watched live by the SP at the district headquarters and gave instructions accordingly to regulate the crowd and other law and order measures.
Adilabad Special Correspondent writes: Except for a protest staged by voters at Boyapalli and Choutapalli polling stations in Tandur mandal, the first phase of MPTC, ZPTC elections held in 21 of the 52 mandals in Adilabad district went off peacefully on Sunday. According to preliminary assessment about 75 per cent of the 6.5 lakh voters exercised their franchise in Asifabad and Mancherial revenue divisions.
The polling was tardy in the afternoon with the mercury registering a maximum of 41 degree Celsius at some places and usage of ballot papers instead of EVMs. At many places polling process had slowed down due to voters swarming at the booths in large numbers instead of forming queues. The shortage of policemen on bandobast duty was telling at polling stations such as Kalamadugu in Jannaram mandal.
District Election Authority and Collector Babu A. monitored the polling process in both the revenue divisions and visited many polling booths. Similarly, Superintendent of Police Gajarao Bhupal also visited some polling stations during the day.
Warangal Special Correspondent writes: About 80 per cent polling was registered in the district for the election held to 20 ZPTCs and 244 MPTCs here on Sunday.
Except for a small tiff between TRS ZPTC candidate and police at Parkal, the polling went of peacefully. In the first phase, the election to the MPTCs and ZPTCs in Mulugu and Narsampet revenue divisions was being held.
Sangareddy Staff Reporter writes: Re-polling was ordered in one polling station number 43 at Charlagudem village in Sangareddy mandal of Medak district in Sunday due to ballot paper error. The State Election Commission (SEC) ordered re-polling on April 11, according to District Election Officer Smita Sabharwal.
TRS and Congress workers clashed in at least at two places – Mothe village in Mirdoddi mandal late on Saturday night and Enakpally village in Manoor mandal -- and police had to intervene and bring the situation under control. A Congress leader was caught by TDP workers at Vatpally village in Jagdevpur mandal and handed over to the police.
Barring these incidents, the first phase of elections to the ZPTCs and MPTCs were held peacefully in Medak district on Sunday. A large number of voters turned up at the booths in the morning itself.
According to officials, about 86 per cent of polling was registered in the district. Elections were held in 24 mandals on Sunday to 24 ZPTCs and 353 MPTCs and polls would be held in 22 mandals in the second phase.
Ms Sabharwal said that the increase in the polling was a result of Systematic Voter’s Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme taken up by the administration.