KAKINADA/KADAPA: Counting of votes in Kandarada of East Godavari and Tummalapalli of Kadapa led to confusion among sarpanch aspirants in both the gram panchayats. In Kandarada gram panchayat, the election to sarpanch post will be conducted again on February 13 after some miscreants snatched 41 ballot papers at the count ing centre. Tension prevailed at the village in Pithapuram mandal of Kakinada division when the supporter of a candidate, said to be backed by the YSRC, snatched the ballot papers during the counting on Tuesday late night.
The rival candidate, Pilla Susheela, supported by the TDP, wanted the officials to announce her victory as she was leading by 53 votes before the incident took place, and as only 41 ballot papers were left to be counted. The election officials, however, maintained that they cannot declare the result without completing the counting process. Kakinada revenue divisional officer Chinni Krishna said out of the 2,793 votes polled, 2,752 were counted, but 41 votes were snatched, and a police case was registered.
With Susheela demanding that her election be declared, tension prevailed as the rival group too reached there and both groups had an altercation. Police dispersed both the groups and brought back normalcy. Late in the night, district collector D Muralidhar Reddy said repolling will be held only for the sarpanch post on February 13.
In Tummalapalli gram panchayat of B Kodur mandal, the election authorities initially declared B Subba Reddy, backed by the TDP, as winner by two votes. After recounting, they said his rival candidate, K Ramasubba Reddy, had won the election by two votes. This led to confusion and protests by the TDP leaders at the counting centre, but the election officials finally declared Ramasubba Reddy as the winning candidate.