40.26 pc polling in Andhra Pradesh in six hours

Amaravati : Amid sporadic incidents of violence, Andhra Pradesh registered 40.26 per cent polling till 1 p.m. on Monday, for simultaneous elections to the 175-member state Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats.

Among Parliamentary constituencies, Bapatla (SC) and Chittoor (SC) constituencies recorded the highest polling of 44.65 per cent, while the lowest was 33.86 per cent in Araku.

Among Assembly segments, Udayagiri recorded the highest polling at 52.16 per cent. Pulivendula, from where Chief Minister and YSR Congress Party President Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is seeking re-election, saw 49.95 per cent polling. Parchur registered 48.81 per cent followed by Jammalamadugu 48.32 per cent and Pamarru (SC) 48.29 per cent. The lowest was in Puttaparthi at 29.29 per cent.

More than 4.14 crore voters are eligible to cast their votes at 46,389 centres. They will decide the political fortunes of 2,841 candidates.

However, polling was marred by sporadic incidents of violence in the state. There were clashes between supporters of YSRCP and TDP at a few places. Both the parties accused each other of malpractice.

Polling in 169 Assembly segments will be held till 6 p.m. In the Left-Wing Extremist (LWE)-affected segments of Araku, Paderu and Rampachodavaram, the polling will conclude at 4 p.m., while in three other LWE-affected segments of Palakonda, Kurupam and Salur, it will conclude at 5 p.m.

In the 2019 elections, the state had recorded 79.84 per cent polling. Chief Minister and YSR Congress Party President Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, former Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, Jana Sena leader and actor Pawan Kalyan are among 2,387 candidates for 175 Assembly seats.

For the 25 Lok Sabha seats, 454 contestants are in the fray and the prominent among them are former Union Minister and state BJP chief D. Purandeswari, state Congress President Y. S. Sharmila Reddy and former Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy.