Thaindian News

Hyderabad, April 25 (IANS) Re-poll will be held Sunday in 60 polling booths in Andhra Pradesh, the Election Commission said Saturday.
The commission ordered re-poll in these booths due to irregularities including damage to the electronic voting machines or technical problems during the second and final phase of polling to Lok Sabha and state legislative assembly Thursday.

Re-polling will be held in 21 booths in Kadapa, the native district of Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, where several incidents of violence and alleged electoral malpractices were reported.

Re-poll will be held in 13 booths in Anantapur and eight in Kurnool. These three districts come under Rayalaseema region, notorious for political violence.

In Prakasam district, where two people were killed and several injured during the election-related violence, re-poll will be held in nine booths.

Re-poll is likely in two more booths in this district in south coastal Andhra as the state election authorities are expecting a decision from the Election Commission.

The remaining booths where re-poll was ordered are in West Godavari, Guntur, Chittoor, East Godavari, Krishna and Nellore districts.

State Chief Electoral Officer I.V. Subba Rao said closed circuit television cameras would be installed and additional forces would be deployed in all the booths. “We are taking all precautions to ensure peaceful re-poll,” Subba Rao told reporters.

In the second phase of polling, 75.50 percent of 26.6 million voters cast their votes in 30,427 polling booths in 20 Lok Sabha and 150 assembly constituencies. The voter turnout in the first phase for 22 Lok Sabha and 154 assembly seats was 69.75 percent. The average voter turnout for both the phases was 72 percent.