Voters, political leaders wait in long queues to exercise their franchise in Nellore
The Hindu
Long queues, political leaders casting votes, and EVM malfunctions reported during voting in SPSR Nellore and Prakasam districts.
Hundreds of voters lined up in serpentine queues at polling stations across SPSR Nellore district from early morning on May 13 (Monday).
Though people stood in queues from 6:30 a.m., polling did not begin until 7 a.m. at Y.V. Municipal High School, Pappula Street in Nellore Town. Several women waited to exercise their franchise at Anam Venkata Reddy Nagar, Ramalingapuram. Similar long queues were witnessed across the 286 polling centres in the Nellore Rural constituency.
Over 75% polling percentage was recorded in the district by 6 p.m., however, the voting process continued in certain polling centres across the district even after 6 p.m.
YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) Nellore MP candidate V. Vijayasai Reddy was seen waiting amidst a long queue to cast his vote at Municipal High School in Kondayapalem. YSRCP MLA candidate from Sarvepally constituency Kakani Govardhan Reddy and his family members cast their votes at Thoderu village, Podalakur mandal of Sarvepally constituency.
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Nellore MP candidate Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy and his wife, the TDP Kovur MLA candidate, Vemireddy Prashanti Reddy, cast their votes at SRK English Medium School, Magunta Layout. Another TDP leader Beeda Ravichandra Yadav also voted at his native place Iskapalli village of Allur mandal.
Former minister and Nellore City TDP MLA candidate Ponguru Narayana has cast his vote at Ramalingapuram. He also enquired the officials about the polling procedure. Later, he spoke to the media and urged everyone to exercise their right to vote.
In some polling stations, the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were not working properly. District Collector M. Hari Narayanan said: “We have fixed the malfunctioning EVMs immediately. We have closely monitored the polling process through webcasting from Command Control Centre in the Nellore Municipal Office.”
The election authorities are gearing up for the counting of votes cast in the simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, scheduled to be held on June 4. The Collectors and Election Officers of Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli and Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) districts said on May 23 (Thursday) that their teams were ready for the counting of votes.
Responding to the prolonged water scarcity, the residents of the area took to the streets in protest on Wednesday. The protest, which drew attention to their plight, stopped only after the intervention of the police. It was not until 1.30 p.m. that a 4000-litre tanker was finally delivered by BWSSB, providing relief to the water-starved residents.