Vijayawada: Nearly 4.14 crore voters would decide the political fate of 2,841 candidates across 175 assembly and 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in Andhra Pradesh on Monday. The results will be known after the counting of votes on June 4.
The Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements for the polling from 7 am to 6 pm in 169 assembly segments and from 7 am to 5 pm in three segments--Palakonda (SC), Kurupam (SC), and Salur (ST) -- and from 7 am to 4 pm in Araku Valley (ST), Paderu (ST) and Rampachodavaram (ST).
Polling for all the seats in AP is being held in the fourth phase of the nationwide general elections.
As many as 46,389 polling stations have been set up, including auxiliary polling stations. Of these, 12,438 are critical polling stations while 31,385 sensitive stations will have the webcasting facility.
Out of the total 4.14 cr voters, nearly 2.03 crore are male and 2.10 crore female while 3,421 voters are transgenders.
YSR Congress president and chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is contesting from Pulivendula, Telugu Desam chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu from Kuppam, Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan from Pithapuram, state BJP chief D Purandeswari from Rajahmundry LS and state Congress chief YS Sharmila Reddy from Kadapa LS. Political parties have made a series of promises during the weeks-long campaign to woo the voters.
Chief electoral officer Mukesh Kumar Meena called upon the voters to cast their vote in a free and fair manner and ensure peaceful polling.
The EC is using 1.60 lakh EVMs across 46,389 polling stations and keeping nearly 20 per cent of the EVMs on standby to meet any machine snag or exigency. It aims at 83 per cent polling in the state against the 79.84 per cent in 2019 polls.
The election authorities are providing drinking water, wheelchairs and ramps, first-aid centres, separate queue lines for male and female voters, and wheelchairs for the aged and special-needs persons.
