Polling peaceful in Prakasam, barring a few minor incidents

Ongole: About 75 per cent of the voters in the erstwhile Prakasam district have exercised their right to vote, by pressing the buttons on the Electronic Voting Machines. Apart from a few disturbances, the polling in the district went on smoothly and peacefully on Monday.

The erstwhile Prakasam district has the Assembly constituencies of Ongole, Kondapi (SC), Darsi, Markapur, Giddalur, Kanigiri and Yerragondapalem (SC), part of the Ongole Lok Sabha constituency, Chirala, Parchur, Addanki and Santhanuthalapadu (SC), part of the Bapatla Lok Sabha constituency, and Kandukur Assembly constituency part of the Nellore Lok Sabha constituency.

There are a total of 2,07,214 `voters in Santhanuthalapadu, 2,26,370 voters in Darsi, 2,40,242 in Ongole, 2,39,609 in Kondapi, 2,14,608 in Markapuram, 2,39,710 in Giddalur, 2,40,079 in Kanigiri, 2,29,333 in Parchur, 2,44,057 in Addanki, 2,02,711 in Chirala, 2,14,638 in Santhanuthalapadu and 2,28,913 in Kandukur. Thus the erstwhile Prakasam district has total 27,27,484 voters. For the Assembly polls, prominent persons in the fray from the YSR Congress Party include Balineni Srinivasa Reddy from Ongole, Dr Audimulapu Suresh from Kondapi, Merugu Nagarjuna from Santhanuthalapadu, Burra Madhusudan Rao from Kandukur, and Dr Buchepalli Sivaprasad Reddy from Darsi while from the TDP include Damacharla Janardhana Rao from Ongole, Yeluri Sambasiva Rao from Prachur, Gottipati Ravi Kumar from Addanki, Dr Dola Sribalaveeranjaneya Swamy from Kodapi, and from the Congress party Amanchi Krishna Mohan from Chirala.

For Ongole Lok Sabha constituency, Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy from the TDP, Dr Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy from the YSRCPand Eda Sudhakar Reddy from the Congress test their luck.

For Bapatla Lok Sabha seat, Tenneti Krishna Prasad from the TDP, Nandigam Suresh Babu from the YSR Congress Party and JD Seelam from the Congress Party are in the race.

According to the Election Commission, about 72.79 per cent of voters in Yerragondapalem, 76.23 in Darsi, 72.68 in Ongole, 69.40 in Kondapi, 75.51 in Markapuram, 74 in Giddalur, 74.19 in Kanigiri and 79.5 in Santhanuthalapadu turned out for casting their votes by 6 pm on Sunday.

About 73.38 per cent of voters in Parchur, 76.06 in Addanki, 64.53 in Chirala and 74.68 in Kandukur cast their votes by 5 pm. The command and control room set up in the Collectorate immediately responded to the alerts of clashes and unforeseen incidents and resolved them in no time to continue the polling. An EVM fell down in the polling station at Botlapalem of Darsi due to a tussle between voters. The collector ordered to book criminal cases on the persons responsible for the incident, while the SP mobilised extra forces. The workers of the YSRCP and TDP clashed at Sathakodu village in Yerragondapalem but the police personnel brought the situation under control as SP Garud Sumit Sunil monitored the incident live.

The vehicle of Congress MLA candidate in Chirala, Amanchi Krishnamohan, was damaged when he was visiting the polling booths in Perala. The police forces scattered the people and brought the situation under control.