StatesAndhra Pradesh
Andhra parishad polls reach 30.5% by 1 pm, with Kadapa ahead and Bapatla trailing
Six hours into voting for mandal and zilla parishads, the State Election Commission put statewide turnout at just under a third, with rain-hit coastal districts lagging behind Rayalaseema.
Key points
- Statewide turnout in the MPTC and ZPTC polls was 30.50% at 1 pm, the State Election Commission said.
- YSR Kadapa led the districts with 36.35%, followed by Visakhapatnam at 35.11%.
- Rain-soaked Bapatla was lowest at 23.89%, with Eluru and Konaseema also below 28%.
Andhra Pradesh’s mandal and zilla parishad elections had drawn 30.50% of voters by 1 pm on Thursday, the State Election Commission said, six hours after polling opened at 7 am, in the wake of Cyclone Murasu.
The district picture split along the weather. YSR Kadapa led at 36.35%, the highest in the state, despite the clashes and petrol bomb attacks reported from its villages in the morning. Visakhapatnam followed with 35.11%, Krishna with 34.85% and Chittoor with 34.26%.
At the other end, Bapatla trailed at 23.89%, with Eluru at 26.36% and Konaseema at 27.60%. These coastal districts took the heaviest rain this week, and voters in Kakinada and Eluru complained in the morning of muddy, slippery paths to their booths. Polling has been put off entirely in five mandals of Eluru and East Godavari, and at two stations in another mandal, because of the weather.
Most other districts sat close to the state average, from Srikakulam at 28.40% to Anantapur at 33.98%. Guntur recorded 33.78% and NTR district 33.32%.
What is at stake
The vote covers 582 ZPTC and 7,767 MPTC seats, with 21,012 candidates in the fray: 18,843 for mandal seats and 2,169 for zilla seats. About 2.61 crore people are eligible to vote at 31,460 polling stations, staffed by more than two lakh officials. Another 2,128 seats were decided unopposed before polling day.
Polling closes at 5 pm. The commission will release later figures through the afternoon, and the final count of voters will come after booths close. Votes will be counted on 7 November.