Amaravati: Polling for eight MLC seats - three graduates, two teachers and three local authorities constituencies-, in the biennial elections for the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council is underway, an official said on Monday.
Graduate constituencies include Srikakulam – Vizianagaram – Visakhapatnam, Prakasam – Nellore – Chittoor and Kadapa – Anantapur – Kurnool.
Teachers' constituencies include Prakasam – Nellore – Chittoor and Kadapa – Anantapur – Kurnool while Srikakulam, West Godavari and Kurnool are the local authorities' constituencies.
Polling began at 8 AM and by noon, Kadapa – Anantapur – Kurnool graduates and teachers constituencies recorded a voting percentage of 32 per cent and 53 per cent respectively while it was 10 and 21 per cent respectively for Prakasam – Nellore – Chittoor graduates and teachers constituencies.
Meanwhile, local authorities' elections in Anantapur, Kadapa, Nellore, East Godavari and Chittoor constituencies were unanimously won by ruling YSRCP candidates as there was no competition.
S Mangamma won from Anantapur, as did Rama Subbareddy Ponnapudi (Kadapa), Meriga Muralidhar (Nellore), Kuchipudi Satyanarayana Rao (East Godavari) and Subramanyam Sipai (Chittoor).
As many as 108 candidates are contesting in the three graduates' constituencies polls, 20 in two teachers constituencies and 11 in the three local authorities elections.
Similarly, a little over 10 lakh graduates are eligible to vote in the graduates' polls, 55,842 voters in the two teachers' constituencies polls and 3,059 in the local authorities polls.
Counting for the MLC elections has been scheduled on Thursday.
Ruling YSRC Congress, opposition Telugu Desam and Progressive Democratic Front, which presently holds the two MLC seats, are vying to capture the two constituencies during Monday’s polling.
The main candidates from the teacher's constituency are YSRC’s P. Chandrasekar Reddy, PDF’s P. Babu Reddy, and AP United Teachers Federation-backed candidate L.C. Ramana Reddy.
In graduates’ constituency, an intense competition is expected between YSRC candidate Pernati Shyam Prasad Reddy and TD nominee K. Srikanth.
