Kakinada: While voters elsewhere had to stand in serpentine queues under a scorching sun, voters had nothing but praise for the one in Mahatma Gandhi Municipal Corporation High School of Gandhinagar in Kakinada.
This was one of the model polling booths, made in each polling station, at the behest of district collector Karthikeya Misra.
The booths sported a festive look decorated with balloons, had carpets, chairs for voters and air coolers.
Many of the voters expressed their happiness and thanked Mr Misra for making such arrangements. Even voters who did not belong to the polling centre, visited the school to see the arrangements.
Mr Misra monitored the poll from a newly established control room and deployed personnel to monitor the situation from time to time at all polling stations from the control room. He gave suggestions to the personnel and instructions to speed up polling and getting polling percentages.
Meanwhile, many of the representatives of several parties brought several problems to the notice of the district collector.
BJP city president Chitneedi Srinivas and Duvvuri Subrahmanyam said that EVMs did not function in many places in Kakinada city as well as in the district.
They requested Mr Misra to extend the polling time. The leaders also said that the names in the polling booth were displayed in English confusing the voters who did not have English skills.
Meanwhile, Mr Misra and his wife exercised their vote in Srinagar Municipal Corporation High School.
Spiritual speaker Chaganti Koteswara Rao and his wife Subrahmanyeswari also voted in the same school.
The Misra couple stood in the queue and exercised their vote.
There were special arrangements provided for elderly women and disabled persons. Mr Misra himself took an elderly woman voter on wheelchair to the polling booth.
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