VISAKHAPATNAM: The counting of votes for North Andhra MLC elections that began at Swarna Bharati Indoor Stadium in Vizag amid tight security on Friday morning continued till Monday midnight. The result is expected to be announced around 1 am on Tuesday, the authorities said. The TDP-BJP candidate PNV Madhav was leading, when the last reports came in.
The polling percentage of 69 per cent left the parties guessing about the results till Monday late night. Sources said that TDP-BJP candidate PNV Madhav was leading, while Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) candidate A Aja Sharma of the CPM was giving a tough fight. “Now, it has become a neck-and-neck competition,” sources at the counting venue said on Monday late night.
Though the TDP-BJP alliance, which lagged far behind than its rivals in the campaigning in the beginning, had aggressively campaigned a few days before the polling day, with the support of Union and state ministers. Meanwhile, Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) candidate A Aja Sharma of the CPM has been banking on their traditional vote bank—employee and trade unions, said sources.
The MLC candidate from Congress Yedla Adiraju and independent candidate V Venkataramana Murthy are also hopeful of their victory.
Out of 1,08,874 voters, 1,55,993 excercised their franchise on polling day. While Visakhapatnam registered around 68.5 per cent, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram saw a turnout of around 72 and 70.4 per cent of voters respectively.