AP has 4.14 cr voters, 46k polling stations

Vijayawada: The total number of voters in Andhra Pradesh stands at 4,14,01,887, including 2,10,56,137 female voters, 2,02,74,144 male voters and 3,421 third gender voters, according Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mukesh Kumar Meena. The number of service voters is 68,185 after freezing the voters list on April 25. He said there was an increase of 5.94 lakh voters after the final electoral rolls published in January.

Speaking to media persons at the election media centre at the Secretariat on Thursday, CEO Meena said electorate can check their names and polling stations at https://electoralsearch.eci.gov.in/ and on the voter helpline app.

The CEO said that the number of polling stations increased from 46,165 to 46,389. He said proposals were sent to Election Commission to set up 224 auxiliary polling stations where the upper limit of 1,500 electors has been crossed. The highest number of 50 auxiliary polling stations have been added in Visakhapatnam district.

Meanwhile, the CEO noted that 12,438 polling stations out of the total have been identified as critical while webcasting has been proposed for 29,897 or 64 per cent of the polling stations.

The CEO said as part of the enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), two deaths, 156 injuries and 13.4 lakh properties were involved in cases of electoral violence. Besides binding over 72,416 persons, the Election Commission has also registered 9,337 seizure FIRs and 864 FIRs related to enforcement such as loudspeaker violations, irregular meetings and others.

Likewise, the poll body seized liquor, cash, drugs, precious metals, freebies and other inducements worth Rs 204 crore from March 16 to May 2.

The CEO said that safety measures would be put in place at polling stations prone to heat waves, such as setting up tents, canopies, umbrellas and shade structures, along with providing chairs. In addition, cooling devices such as fans will be arranged at necessary polling stations in view of extreme increase in temperatures for the comfort of voters and polling personnel.

Elections for the 175-member Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh are scheduled on May 13 and the counting of votes will be held on June 4.