Polling began peacefully in Vizianagaram district exactly at 7 am on May 13, 2024, in all 1847 polling booths of seven Assembly constituencies such as Vizianagaram, Gajapathinagaram, Bobbili, Rajam, Cheepurupalli, Nellimarla and S.Kota of Vizianagaram district. S.Kota comes under Visakhapatnam Parliamentary constituency but polling arrangements were done by the officials of the district administration as it is part of Vizianagaram district. As many as 15, 62,921 people will cast their votes till 6 pm.
However, the people who will in the queue line at 6 pm will be allowed to cast their votes. As many as 13,661 polling officials with different ranks will monitor the elections. As many as 77 candidates are contesting in seven Assembly constituencies and 15 candidates are vying with one another in Vizianagaram Parliamentary constituency.
Also read | AP Elections 2024 LIVE coverage May 13
Vizianagaram Collector S.Nagalakshmi who has been monitoring the elections said that the mock polling which was conducted at 5.30 am helped the staff to understand the election procedure. According to her, Engineers of Bharat Electrical Limited (BEL) engineers will assist the polling officials if any technical glitches are found in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). She is hopeful that the voting percentage would cross 80 percent with the creation of awareness among the people about the importance of voting in democracy.
Under the Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation Programme of the Election Commission of India, the officials conducted various programmes such as flash mobs, cultural events and others to encourage everyone to participate in the electoral process. The officials arranged tents, water, toilets, medical facilities, ramps and 716 wheel chairs for differently abled persons at polling booths to boost the voting percentage. As many as 11 model polling stations have been set up in the district. Portraits of musical instruments at model polling booths of Vizianagaram Music College have already caught the attention of the people.
Visakhapatnam Range Deputy Inspector General Vishal Gunni and Vizianagaram Superintendent of Police M.Deepika have already reviewed security arrangements and directed the cops to be alert at 362 identified sensitive villages and other vulnerable places. As many as 2272 web cameras are being used to gather video footage in those places. Micro observers were also appointed to brief the situation to the higher officials on hourly basis. After the polling EVMs would be kept safely at Lendi Engineering College and JNTU-GV University till June 4, the counting day.
