Barring mild lathi-charge, polling peaceful in Chittoor

Tirupati/Chittoor: In the civic body polls held for 2 Municipal Corporations and 4 Municipalities in Chittoor district, 62.50 percentage of voters have exercised their franchise till 5 pm on Wednesday, according to District Collector M Harinarayanan.

In the district, polling started on a dull note because of poor participation of voters in urban areas. Due to high temperatures after 12 pm, all the polling stations wear a deserted look. Police resorted to mild lathi charge at 15th ward in front of Mahatma Gandhi polling station in Tirupati city to avoid conflict between the YSRCP and TDP followers.

The temple city witnessed 54 per cent of voting, Chittoor 66.6 per cent, Madanapalli 59.59pc, Puttur 80.49pc, Nagari 75.49 pc, and Palamaner with 71.49 per cent. Out of 3,26,440 voters, 2,03,090 have exercised their franchise, the collector added.

District Collector Harinarayana visited polling stations at Palamaner Municipality. Similarly, District Joint Collector (Development) Veerabrahmam visited Neerugattu Varipalle polling station in Madanapalle town and interacted with polling officials over the polling procedure and percentage. Polling held for 13 divisions in Chittoor Municipal Corporation peacefully except certain stray incidents. Former Mayor K Hemalatha lodged a complaint that some vested elements resorted to intimidating the voters.

In an incident occurred at Santhapet, some unidentified persons reportedly assaulted a local TDP leader Murali, the husband of TDP contesting candidate C M Vijaya. Minor clash was reported between the activists of YSRCP and TDP at Industrial estate booth. According to sources, 72.3 per cent of voters have exercised their franchise in 13 divisions.

Tirupati Urban SP Ch Venkatappala Naidu and Chittoor SP S Senthil Kumar visited polling centres to monitor the arrangements.

Nagari MLA R K Roja cast her vote at Nagari Municipality.