Andhra Pradesh Assembly Election 2019 Voting LATEST Updates: Voter turnout was 55 percent in Andhra Pradesh till 3 pm amid clashes between TDP and YSRCP, ANI reported. A YSRCP worker has been taken to a hospital after he was injured in a clash which broke out between YSRCP and TDP workers at a polling station in Jammalamadugu Mandal of Kadapa district, ANI reported. The family of the late Nandyal MLA Bhuma Nagi Reddy have accused YSRCP leaders in Allagadda constituency of kidnapping their supporters. Bhuma Mounika (sister of state tourism minister Bhuma Akhila Priya) and Jagath Vikyath Reddy (brother of Akhila) claimed they would protest in front of the YSRCP leader’s house if their supporters aren’t returned. Bhuma Mounika also accused YSRCP workers of destroying her car by throwing stones. JD(U) vice-president Prashant Kishor accused Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu of spreading fake news, News18 reported. Kishor added that the voters have decided to come out against Naidu. TDP, YSRCP workers clash at polling station in Srinivasapuram village of Gurajala Assembly constituency in Guntur, ANI reported. A video has surfaced which allegedly shows TDP leaders distributing money in Gudivada Assembly seat in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. After YSRCP chief Jagan Mohan Reddy alleged that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had threatened the Election Commission, TDP released a video of Naidu’s meeting with Chief Electoral Officer Gopalkrishna Dwivedi, in which he lodged a protest claiming that the poll panel was biased towards YSRCP. Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly Kodela Sivaprasad Rao was allegedly attacked by YSRCP workers in Guntur district’s Inumella village in Sattenapalle Assembly constituency, after which he fainted. He was there to inspect a booth. Rao is contesting from the Narasaraopet Assembly seat. TDP leader Bhaskar Reddy and YSRCP worker Pulla Reddy died in clashes between party cadres at the polling station in Tadipatri Mandal’s Veerapuram village, Anantapur district. Two other party workers are believed to be in a critical condition. YSRCP workers allegedly attacked Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly Kodela Siva Prasada Rao, who had gone to inspect a polling booth in Guntur’s Inumella village in Sattenapalle Assembly constituency. In the same district, YSRCP candidate G Srinivas Reddy from Narasaraopet Assembly constituency was injured after his car was allegedly attacked by TDP workers in Yallamanda village. Chief Electoral Officer Gopalakrishna Dwivedi has denied reports on 30 percent of the EVMs in Andhra Pradesh malfunctioning. “In total, we have 45,959 booths, and we are using around 92,000 EVMs. We got 344 issues and 25 are still pending,” he said. Malfunctioning EVMs across the state resulted in a low voter turnout of 10.62 percent till 9 am in Andhra Pradesh. TDP workers were caught on camera thrashing a YSR Congress Party agent at a polling station at Puthalapattu in Chittoor district. Meanwhile, in a video, a TDP councillor Shivashankar Yadav can be seen distributing money to voters at Nandamurinagar polling station in Kurnool. The constituency falls in one of Andhra Pradesh’s Maoist-affected districts. Chandrababu Naidu has written to the Chief Electoral Officer, saying 30 percent of the EVMs were not functioning till 10 am, according to the reports he had received. Demanding re-polling, he claimed that in some polling stations, votes for TDP were being recorded for YSR Congress. Clashes between TDP and YSRCP party workers are being reported from various places of Andhra Pradesh. Polling equipment was destroyed in Srinivasapuram village in Guntur’s Gurazala mandal; in Jammalamadugu, a YSR Congress worker was injured, people were injured in a stone-pelting incident in Ponnathota; similar news is coming in from Mydukur constituency. Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu has demanded repolling at the locations where EVMs did not work. He said 30 percent of the voting machines had malfunctioned, because of which polling started nearly three hours late at many places. Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan defended his party leader Madhusudan Gupta, who was arrested for damaging a voting machine in Gutti in Guntakal Assembly constituency. “How do we know who broke the machine?” he said, even though there’s a video of Gupta throwing an EVM on the floor at the polling booth. Andhra Pradesh Chief Election Officer Gopala Krishna Dwivedi was unable to cast his vote at Tadepalli Assembly constituency in Guntur district due to malfunctioning EVMs. TDP candidate Aravinda Babu was attacked allegedly by YSR Congress activists in Narsaraopet Assembly constituency. The police had to lathicharge workers of both parties to quell the clashes. So far, 36 Assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh have reported EVM glitches. Several booths in Chandrababu Naidu’s Kuppam constituency also reported malfunctioning EVMs. Voting has been delayed at a number of polling booths in Andhra Pradesh due to malfunctioning EVMs. Chandrababu Naidu has reiterated his demand to have the voting machines with paper ballots. Jana Sena Party candidate Madhusudan Gupta has been arrested for damaging an EVM at Guntakal constituency in Anantapur district’s Gutti town. The police said Gupta was angry with the polling staff for not displaying the names of the Assembly and parliamentary constituencies properly, after which he lifted the EVM and threw it on the floor. YSR Congress Party chief Jagan Mohan Reddy cast his vote at the Pulivendula constituency. In Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his family cast their votes. Within 30 minutes of booths opening, two polls booths reported EVM malfunctioning. EVMs in booth no. 153 in Raptadu Assembly constituency in Anantapur district failed to work, as did the voting machines at polling booth no. 101 in Visakhapatnam East. Voting has begun in the first Assembly election in Andhra Pradesh since its bifurcation in June 2014. The elections are being held simultaneously with the first phase of the Lok Sabha election. Over 3.5 crore voters — 1,94,62,339 men, 1,98,79,421 women, 3,957 transgenders and 10.15 lakh first-time voters — will vote in 175 Assembly constituencies. The state has 56,908 service voters, while 5,323 NRIs from the state are also registered as voters. Of the 46,120 polling stations, 8,514 have been classified as critical and 520 as affected by Left-Wing Extremism. On the eve of polling day, 197 companies of Central Armed Police Forces were deployed across Andhra Pradesh, in addition to 51,525 state police personnel, 60 companies of Andhra Pradesh Special Police, 4,500 Karnataka and 736 Odisha police for security will be deployed. Voting will begin at 7 am, with Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu seeking re-election for the ninth time from Kuppam constituency in Chittoor district. His son Nara Lokesh is making his electoral debut from Mangalagiri. As many as 2,118 candidates are in the fray for the Assembly election. Apart from Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the YSR Congress Party, Congress, BJP and Jana Sena are also contesting. Additionally, this will be the first time in its 37-year history that TDP is contesting without any allies. Polling will end at 4 pm in the seats affected by Left-Wing Extremism, mostly those bordering Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Authorities are using 2,684 GIS and GPS-fitted vehicles and personnel tracking devices, 67 drones and 1,200 body-worn cameras for surveillance and security monitoring. In the 2014 Assembly election, TDP won 101 seats, YSRCP 68, BJP four, Navodayam Party 1 and an Independent candidate won one seat.
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