Many tribals from interior hamlets vote for first time as special vehicles ferry them to polling stations in ASR district

Poor road connectivity, far-away polling stations, tough geographical terrain and prevalence of Left-wing extremism kept many tribal voters in Alluri Sitharama district away from exercising their franchise during the previous elections

Thousands of tribal people from the interior villages in the Maoist hotbed in Alluri Sitharama Raju district exercised their franchise on May 13 (Monday). Many voters belonging to the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) exercised their franchise for the first time as the authorities arranged vehicles to ferry them to polling stations.

Though a thin crowd was witnessed at the polling stations in Araku, Paderu and Rampachodavaram Assembly constituencies in the first two hours, voting picked up as the day progressed.

By 4 p.m., the polling percentage went up to 56 in the Araku constituency while the same for Paderu and Rampachodavaram stood at 46 and 60 respectively.

Also read: Andhra Pradesh elections updates- May 13

In total, 1,021 polling stations were set up in the district, of which 304 were set up in Araku Assembly constituency, 318 in Paderu and 399 in Rampachodavaram constituencies. Of the total, 286 polling stations do not have Internet connectivity.

Many voters from these constituencies used to shy away from voting during the previous elections owing to poor road connectivity, polling stations located far away from their hamlets, tough geographical terrain and most importantly the prevalence of Left-wing extremism. The officials said the constituencies might record a good polling percentage this time as buses and jeeps were arranged to ferry the tribal people to the polling stations.

A special bus was arranged to ferry around 50 voters from the interior Kalyanagummi village in Gummakota panchayat of Devarapalli mandal to the nearest polling station at Medaparthi. The officials said there were two ways to reach Medaparthi from Kalyanagummi—either a 15-km trek in the hill terrain or a travel of 50 km by road on the Anakapalli district route.