Repolling in seven polling stations in Andhra Pradesh’s Chandragiri Assembly constituency, which forms part of the Chittoor (SC) Lok Sabha seat, ended peacefully on Sunday, registering 89.29% turnout.
The voting was 1.13% less than the 90.42% recorded on April 11.
Repolling was necessitated in seven villages with complaints of violence and malpractice emanating from both the TDP and the YSRCP camps.
Of the 5,451 voters, 4,867 exercised their franchise amid unprecedented security arrangements. A three-layered security cordon was laid around the booths. District Election Officer and Collector P.S. Pradyumna, who monitored the situation via the CCTV network from Tirupati along with Returning Officer R. Mahesh Kumar, said the polling was largely incident-free. Initially, the Election Commission had announced polling only in five villages — Pulivarthivaripalle, Venkatramapuram, Kothakandriga, Kammapalli and N.R. Kammapalli. Two more villages — Kalepalli and Kuppam Badur — were included at the last minute, forcing the district officials to expedite arrangements. The first five villages are considered the TDP’s pocket boroughs, while the last two are YSRCP’s strongholds.
Stringent security
With all eyes turning towards Chandragiri, the authorities braced up the security apparatus in a never-before manner. A three-layered security cordon was laid around the polling stations. The first police picket set up at the village entrance filtered non-residents, the second layer screened and allowed only the party agents, staff on polling duty and media persons, while the third layer stood guard at the polling stations. As many as 2,400 police personnel were deployed in the villages.
Headed by Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Anantapuram range) Kanthi Rana Tata, two Superintendents of Police, five Additional Superintendents, 21 Deputy Superintendents, 79 CIs, 150 SIs and others monitored the polling. These apart there were 310 sleuths from the Special Party and 180 from the AP Special Police. Three drone cameras were pressed into service to keep an eye on the goings-on at the polling stations and their vicinity. Wheelchairs were kept ready at the stations for the benefit of the aged and physically challenged voters.
TDP candidate Pulivarthi Nani was involved in a brawl in Pulivarthivaripalle and a case was registered against him. Based on the complaint by the sectoral magistrate, the police arrested Munichandra Naidu of G.K.N. Kandriga, forming part of the Kammapalle polling station, for vitiating the atmosphere by arguing with the presiding Officer.
After inspecting the Kammapalli PS, YSRCP candidate Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy said that he was happy to see the SC/ST voters getting the opportunity to vote for the first time in three decades.
