60.91 per cent polling in Andhra Pradesh MPTC and ZPTC elections

Nearly 61 per cent polling was recorded in the elections to mandal and zilla parishad territorial constituencies in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday, which Panchayat Raj Principal Secretary Gopal Krishna Dwivedi termed ''remarkably successful.'' Stray incidents of clashes were reported from a few districts, but overall the polling went off smoothly, official sources in the State Election Commission here said.

State Election Commissioner Nilam Sawhney said in a release late on Thursday night that a fresh poll has been ordered on Friday in five polling stations in different districts due to some untoward incidents.

Fresh poll would be held in three polling stations of Antipet MPTC in Vizianagaram district due to erroneous printing of ballot papers.

In Chowta Bheemavaram of SPS Nellore district, a fresh poll has been ordered in one polling station as the ballot box was thrown in a water tub following a clash between polling agents, the SEC said.

As 86 ballot papers of another polling station were found mixed up in Rapaka-Surampudi in West Godavari district, a fresh poll has been ordered, she said.

Sawhney expressed grief over the demise due to cardiac arrest of a school assistant, who was drafted as a polling official in Alluru in Guntur district.

Proposals were being sent to the state government for payment of ex-gratia to the kin of the deceased, she added.

Polling was stalled in a couple of places because of faulty ballot papers, the sources said.

The Jana Sena party symbol was found missing in the ballot paper in Amalapuram Rural, resulting in the suspension of polling.

In half-a-dozen villages on the Andhra-Odisha border in Vizianagaram district, polling was hampered due to a long- pending jurisdictional dispute that was pending adjudication in the Supreme Court.

Polling was conducted from 7 am to 5 pm across the state as the High Court gave the green signal for the parishad elections but counting of votes will not be taken up as scheduled on April 10, till the writ petition in the court is disposed of (probably on the 15th).

At Rajupalem village in Guntur district, workers of the ruling YSR Congress and the main opposition Telugu Desam clashed with each other resulting in minor injuries to a couple of persons, police said.

Similar incidents were reported in Krishna and Prakasam districts as well but police immediately swung into action and quelled the mobs to bring the situation under control.

Panchayat Raj Principal Secretary Gopal Krishna Dwivedi congratulated Panchayat Raj Commissioner M Girija Shankar, district Collectors and polling staff over the ''remarkably successful'' conduct of the MPTC and ZPTC elections.

Election was conducted for 7,220 MPTC and 515 ZPTC seats for which a total of 20,840 candidates were in the fray.

For the record, the TDP boycotted the election but technically it remained in the contest as the ballot papers were printed before it announced its decision.

The YSRC already bagged 2,271 MPTC and 126 ZPTC seats unopposed.

The TDP won 100 MPTCs unanimously in the election process that initially commenced in March last year.