Andhra Pradesh - Guntur   

Women flock to polling stations

By Our Staff Reporter

GUNTUR, APRIL 26. Women flocked to the polling stations in large numbers early in all the seven segments of the Guntur Lok Sabha constituency and 40 per cent of the votes were cast by noon in a peaceful election on Monday. Hot sun forced majority of them to complete the ritual early in the day at Guntur.

Except for the large number of complaints of removal of names from the voters' list in urban areas the only significant aberration in the free and fair conduct of the polls was hurling of bombs in front of two polling stations in Lingapuram in Amaravathi mandal. Serpentine queues were seen especially for men at most of the polling stations in the Guntur city from 9 a.m. The polling percentage was 60.4 in the Guntur Lok Sabha constituency and could go up further once figures from a few left-over polling stations was received by night.

The electronic voting machines were broken at three places -- Phirangipuram, Tsandavaram and Parupalli villages of which the one at Phirangipuram with 89 per cent of votes cast came alive, but a repoll had to be ordered in the other two. There was an exchange of fire between the naxalites and the police special party at Gummanampadu in Bollapalli mandal with no casualties on either side.

The city roads wore a deserted look following closing of all shops including small eateries and hotels. The city buses also did not ply putting many of the passengers to difficulty.

The District Collector said that about 5.5 lakh bogus names removed from the rolls had resulted in some people not finding their names in the lists, but a large number of complaints came from the urban pockets of the district.

A large number of men and women ran from pillar to post to search for their names in the electoral rolls.

Five villages in the Rompicherla mandal (Rompicherla, Vipparla, Arepalli, Gogulapadu, and Karlakunta) witnessed hurling of bombs and breaking of EVMs leading to stoppage of polling.

The District Collector, K. Rama Krishna Rao, his wife, Rama, and the former Guntur MPs, Yemparala Venkateswara Rao, and Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, were among the early persons to cast their votes.

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