TIRUPATI: The district administrations of Chittoor and Nellore have made arrangements for the by-election to the Tirupati Lok Sabha seat on Saturday.A three-cornered fight between the YSRC, TDP and BJP-JSP combine is expected as they have taken the bypoll as a prestigious matter and completed a high-octane campaign, leaving no stone unturned. Dr M Gurumoorthy of the YSRC, former Union minister Panabaka Lakshmi of the TDP, K Ratna Prabha of BJP-JSP alliance are the main contenders. Officials have deputed medical teams for checking voters before entering the polling booths in view of the Covid pandemic.
Expecting a good turnout, officials have conducted various programmes as part of the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) in Chittoor and Nellore districts. According to returning officer and Nellore District Collector KVN Chakradhar Babu, there are 17,10,699 voters in the three Assembly segments in Chittoor district and four in Nellore. Among them, 8,38,540 are male voters, 8,71,943 female voters and 216 others.
“All arrangements have been made in 2,470 polling stations in Nellore and Chittoor districts. As many as 28 candidates are in the fray. In all, 10,850 officials have been deputed and all of them have been vaccinated considering the risks of Covid infection,” said Chakradhar Babu.As many as 23 companies of Central armed forces, three companies of special forces personnel and local police have been deployed.
As many as 251 polling stations were added in Nellore district and 250 in Chittoor district, compared to the 2019 elections, as per the instructions of the ECI to set up one polling station for every 1,000 voters. The polling stations were divided into 260 sectors in the Lok Sabha segment. Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the by-election. As many as 23 companies of Central armed forces, three companies of special force personnel and local police have been deployed. Chakradhar Babu said special forces will be deployed at 877 critical polling stations. Special teams have seized `4 crore worth liquor, cash and 18 vehicles and filed 145 cases against violators so far.
As per the decision of the ECI, the volunteers are not included in the election duties and 92 pc voter’s slips have been distributed to the voters. As many as 497 service voters have already sent their votes through electronic mode. The Election Commission has provided postal ballot facility for the elderly and physically challenged in view of the Covid situation. As many as 508 octogenarians and 284 physically challenged and 3,195 election staff used the postal ballot facility.
Authorities have allotted EVM strong room and counting centre at DKW College in Nellore for Sarvepalli, Gudur, Sullurpeta, Venkatagiri assembly segments and S V Arts college in Tirupati for Tirupati, Srikalahasti and Sathyavedu segments. According to data, 12,87,734 of the 16,50,453 voters exercised their franchise in the constituency in the 2019 general elections, registering a polling percentage of 78.99. While Tirupati assembly segment recorded the lowest polling percentage, 66.05, Sathyavedu registered the highest polling, 86.09 per cent, in 2019.
TDP writes to CEC
Vijayawada: A day ahead of the Tirupati Lok Sabha by-election, TDP AP president K Atchannaidu wrote a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner accusing the ruling YSRC of influencing booth level officers to distribute voter slips only to YSRC supporters. “The BLOs are not distributing voters’ slips to neutral voters and supporters of TDP,” he alleged.
Seal borders of Tirupati constituency: BJP to EC
Vijayawada: BJP state chief Somu Veerraju on Friday submitted a representation to the Chief Election Commissioner of India and the returning officer of Tirupati parliamentary constituency with a request to ‘seal’ the borders of constituency, alleging that YSRC was ‘mobilising’ candidates to rig the bypoll to be held on Saturday. The BJP also urged the CEC to direct ministers/MLAs and other political functionaries to leave the Tirupati parliamentary segment.