Over 81 pc polling recorded in final phase of AP gram panchayat elections

Amaravati, Feb 21 (PTI): A few incidents of violence,mostly in Guntur district, marred the fourth and final phaseof elections to the gram panchayats in Andhra Pradesh onSunday, which saw 81.78 per cent polling.

Police made lathicharge at a couple of places in Gunturdistrict to quell clashing mobs while polling agents ofcandidates were allegedly beaten up in some places, policesources said.

In Sattenapalli constituency, agents of rival candidatesclashed with each other inside a polling station and sufferedinjuries. Both were rushed to the hospital for treatment.

At Mutluru village near Guntur, a polling agent attemptedto immolate himself after rivals allegedly thrashed him insidea polling station, the sources said.

This led to tension in the village as villagers allegedthat police remained mute spectators while the miscreantsjumped over the polling station compound wall and carried outthe attack on the agent.

''Some stray incidents do happen but we have acted swiftly.

We will bring the culprits involved in the violent incidentsto book, Guntur Urban district Superintendent of Police AmmiReddy told reporters.

He said a strong police force was deployed under thedirect supervision of a Deputy Superintendent of Police toprevent untoward incidents, given the sensitive nature of thepolling station.

In East Godavari district, two old-aged men collapsed anddied after exercising their franchise in separate villages, inwhat was suspected to be cases of heart attack.

Rain did not dampen the spirit of voters as they lined upin good numbers to exercise their franchise in some mandals inSPS Nellore district, sources in the State Election Commissionhere said.

In the fourth phase, polling was held to elect 2,743village sarpanches and 22,423 ward members in 3,299 grampanchayats.

Already, 554 sarpanches were declared elected unopposed.

According to the State Election Commission, more than 80per cent polling was recorded in each of the four phases ofelections to the panchayats.

After a protracted stand-off between the YS Jagan MohanReddy government and the State Election Commissioner N RameshKumar and the resultant legal battle, elections to the grampanchayats, the lowest tier in the Panchayat Raj structure,were completed in four phases between February 9 and 21.

Though the panchayat elections were conducted on anapolitical basis, the ruling YSR Congress claimed to have wonmore than 82 per cent of the village bodies.

The main opposition Telugu Desam Party, however, said thepanchayat polls proved the people rejected the draconian ruleof Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Elections to the urban local bodies, scheduled for March10, will be a direct fight between the political parties, asalso the polls to mandal and zilla parishads the second andthird tiers of the Panchayat Raj structure will alsoshowcase the real strength of the parties.

The SEC is yet to announce the dates for the mandal andzilla parishad elections, which have been abruptly deferred inMarch last year due to Covid-19 outbreak, as it is seekinglegal opinion on the way ahead.