Amid high security, panchayat elections were held in a peaceful manner in Kavali division and Ongole division in Nellore and Prakasam districts respectively on Tuesday.
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People came in large numbers wearing masks to the polling booths and waited for their turn while maintaining physical distance to cast their vote in the first phase of the elections. Long queues were seen right from 6.30 a.m. when polling started and continued till 3.30 p.m.
Over 80% of the 26.5 lakh voters had come to cast their vote in Nellore district. “No untoward incident has been reported from anywhere in the nine poll-bound mandals,” said Nellore District Panchayat Officer M. Dhanalakshmi while overseeing the polling process. She said 25 sarpanches and 532 ward members were decided unanimously.
Prakasam district recorded over 80.92% turnout in the elections held for the remaining 192 sarpanch and 1,415 ward member seats in 14 mandals as 35 sarpanch and 907 ward member seats were decided unanimously, said District Collector Pola Bhaskar while overseeing the polling process from Ongole through webcasting.
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After conducting a whirlwind tour of the poll-bound mandals, including sensitive and hyper-sensitive polling booths in Kothapatnam, Ethamukkala and Tangutur, Prakasam Superintendent of Police Siddharth Kaushal said people could cast their vote without fear or favour, thanks to beefed up security.
The district police were fully geared to prevent any post-poll clashes, said the SP while monitoring the polling process in villages through 7,800 CCTV cameras. He urged people to pass on information in case they came across any untoward incidents by dialing 100 or sending a message through WhatsApp on 9121102266.