Two men have died in inter-party clashes in Tadipatri constituency in Andhra Pradesh. Pulla Reddy of YSR Congress Party and Chinta Bhaskar Rao of the Telugu Desam Party were killed in a clash between the two parties, near booth No 197 in Veerapuram village.
There are in all over 45,000 polling booths, with over 90,000 EVMs, in AP. Roughly 34% of the votes have been cast so far. But in many areas, voters have faced grave inconvenience due to faulty EVMs, rigging by YSRC and TDP party workers, and a lack of shamianas to protect from the blazing sun
Faulty EVMs
According to news reports, around 345 EVMs have malfunctioned across east Godavari and Rayalaseema districts. The Election Commission worked post-haste to replace the faulty machines. Nevertheless, in a number of constituencies, polling was delayed by over two hours (polling began across AP at 7 am), with some booths allowing voters to to cast their vote only after 10:30 am.
In some areas like Tadepalligudem in East Godavari district, near Rajahmundry, while the EVMs were functional, the operators did not know how to connect them.
As of 9:30 am, polling was yet to begin in some booths in Madanapalli, tambalapalli, Tirupati, Satyavedu, Renugunta and many other areas. In some areas, polling was further delayed as the replacement EVMs too malfunctioned.
Rigging in Booths
While polling progressed smoothly in the majority of constituencies in AP, there have been sporadic reports of violence and rigging.
The Rayalaseema area, specifically around Kadapa, has always been the stronghold of the Reddy family. Late CM of united Andhra, YS Rajasekhara Reddy, was undefeated in the area for decades. Now that Jagan Mohan Reddy has taken over his father’s legacy, the YSRCP has replaced the Congress party, to which Reddy Sr belonged.
Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSR Congress Party workers rigged a polling booth in Gonthuvaripalli village in the Rayalaseema area of Andhra Pradesh. After taking over the polling booth, they reached an 80-20 arrangement with the Telugu Desam Party workers present there, and shut the doors of the booth to the public.
Incidents of clashes between the YSRCP and TDP workers have also been reported around Kadapa.
Voters have also had to stand under the unforgiving heat of AP’s summer. The local officials, and collectors, who were supposed to work in tandem with the EC to provide arrangements for shade, and drinking water, failed to deliver.
What these issues will translate to, in terms of the voter turnout, remains to be seen at the end of the day.
The Chief Electoral Officer Gopal Krishna Dwivedi has said that there will be no re-poll in areas where polling has been delayed. Instead, polling will be allowed to continue till 9pm or even up to 10 pm if necessary, to accommodate voters.
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