Moderate temperatures aided in achieving a satisfactory poll percentage of 70.80% by 5 p.m. in Vizianagaram. The final voting percentage is expected to be between 75% to 80%, according to officials.
The voter turnout was also satisfactory between 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. as the temperature was only 32 degree Celsius, enabling the public to throng polling booths. The temperature, which even touched 40 degrees a few days ago, dropped significantly on polling day — much to the relief of polling staff as well as voters.
Incident-free polling
Excepting a few places such as KSR Puram of Gajapathinagaram constituency, the election process concluded peacefully across the 1,847 polling booths of the district. As many as 13,661 polling officials and staff were involved in the election process. District Collector S. Nagalakshmi and Superintendent of Police (SP) M. Deepika expressed happiness over the peaceful completion of polling.
The election was largely incident-free even in key constituencies like Cheepurupalli, where Minister for Education and YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) nominee Botcha Satyanarayana contested against former minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) nominee Kala Venkatarao.
TDP nominee Kondapalli Srinivas urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to probe the attack on a polling official in the KSR Puram village while exuding confidence that he would win the seat despite such incidents, which he claimed, occurred at the behest of YSRCP nominee and sitting MLA Botcha Appalanarasayya.
Former Union Minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Mr. Botcha Satyanarayana, Deputy Speaker Kolagatla Veerabhadra Swamy and others cast their votes in Vizianagaram, while Ms. Nagalakshmi cast hers in the Kanapaka polling booth, located near the Collector’s office.
