Voters from urban and suburban areas of Vijayawada turn out in large numbers

Standing in serpentine queues for long hours, they exercised their franchise in a peaceful manner. People of all age groups came out of their homes, in large numbers, from the morning. The voter flow remained steady throughout the day with a marginal decrease in the afternoon hour at some polling booths, but which too picked up momentum again in the evening hours.

The polling booths at APSRMCH school, Andhra Loyola College and Montessori Mahila Degree College witnessed high voter turnout throughout the day.

K Basha, a resident of Krishna Lanka who came to vote at the APSRMCH school along with his wife, said, “It took us 30 minutes to cast our votes. There was no provision of a fan /cooler in the queue, which caused severe inconvenience to the voters as the temperature outside was unbearable.”

Among the urban voters, women and the elderly turned up in large numbers at the polling booths. The 90-year-old R Guru Swamy along with his 86-year-old wife Aarogya Mani came to the Montessori Mahila Degree College to cast their votes.

The nonagenarian man who came on his wheelchair accompanied by his son to the polling booth, said, “Despite my poor health, I along with my wife came to cast our votes to show our unwavering support to Jagan Mohan Reddy, who helped us with his social security pensions at our doorsteps through the volunteers system.”

Voters queuing up at the Montessori Mahila Degree College complained of shortage of staff inside the polling booths due to which they had to wait for two to three hours to cast their votes. Voters at the polling booths in Andhra Loyola College also complained of long waits in queues due to the inadequate arrangements at the polling centre.

As the polling time ended at 6pm, voters were still waiting in queues at some polling stations. They were allowed to cast their votes by the polling officers.