Thaindian News

Hyderabad, April 25 (IANS) Re-poll will be held Sunday in 63 polling booths in Andhra Pradesh, the Election Commission said Saturday.
The commission ordered re-poll due to irregularities including damage to the electronic voting machines or technical problems during the second and final phase of polling to the Lok Sabha and state 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-voting has been ordered 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 in election-related violence, re-poll will be held in 11 booths. These include two booths where the polling officials and agents were seen making mockery of voting process.

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, 75.5 percent of 26.6 million voters voted 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.