SURYAPET: Barring a few minor skirmishes, which were nipped in the bud by the alert police, and some technical issues, the Huzurnagar bypoll went off peacefully on Monday. Though the polling process started on a sluggish note with just 13 per cent voting taking place between 7 am and 9 am, it picked up pace later in the day and by the time the process ended about 84.15 per cent of the voters exercised their franchise.
For the record, 81.18 per cent voting was recorded in the constituency in the 2014 polls and 86.38 per cent in 2018 elections. The poll process was stopped briefly in some booths in Garidepally mandal headquarters due to technical problems in EVMs.
Meanwhile, tension prevailed, albeit briefly, in Chinthalapalem when Padmavathi Reddy, who has no vote in the constituency, entered a booth and TRS activists raised ‘go back’ slogans. Similar scenes were witnessed at a polling booth in Kalvalapalem village when Saidi Reddy visited the place, leading to heated arguments between the Congress and TRS workers. However, police rushed to spot and brought the situation under control after asking the TRS candidate to leave the booth.