Assembly Polls: Andhra Pradesh Records 73% Voter Turnout

Police use lathis to disperse crowd in Allagadda, Kurnool as workers of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) clash in the area.State IT Minister and TDP leader Nara Lokesh sits on a dharna alleging inadequate arrangements at the polling center in the Christian Peta area of Tadepalli, reported ANI.Odisha Chief Electoral Officer Surendra Kumar said, they have been successful in conducting the first phase of polls in a free, fair and peaceful manner. “There has been no untoward incident whatsoever in the polls. The failure rate of EVMs has been under 1 percent,”he said, reported ANI.A security personnel was injured after a clash broke out between TDP & YSRCP workers in Kurnool’s Ahobilam in Andhra Pradesh, reported ANI.Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu apologised to the voters for the EVM problems in the state. “Election commission which acted actively in transferring the officials couldn't maintain EVMs & VVPATs. They've failed. You had to face troubles in the scorching heat. I'm very disappointed. However I appeal to all of you to cast your vote,” he said, reported ANI.Zero polling was reported in 15 booths at Chitrakonda and Mathili Block of Malkangiri district in Odisha due to suspected Maoist fear, sources told The Quint.“In 6 booths of Chitrakonda in Malkangiri district, there has been no voting due to threat by naxals,” Chief Electoral Officer in Odisha said, reported ANI.The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has written to the chief electoral officer of Bhubaneswar over violation of the EC guidelines by the BJP. The BJD has accused the BJP of holding a press meet and has sought strict action against the BJP and OTV, reported ANI.A clash broke out between workers of TDP and YSRCP at a polling station in Jammalamadugu Mandal in Andhra Pradesh’s Kadapa district. A YSRCP worker was injured and has been taken to a hospital, reported ANI.A centenarian from Tajang village of Ziro in Arunachal Pradesh, with her youngest son casts her vote.Andhra Pradesh, marred with incidents of violence and EVM malfunctioning, has recorded a 41 percent turnout as of 1 pm, according to PIB data.About 41 percent votes were polled in Odisha till 1 pm, the first six hours of polling, IANS reported.Famous sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has created a piece to raise voter awareness at Odisha’s Puri Beach. The art piece, with an inked finger and an EVM besides it, says “Your message, your future.”Arunachal Pradesh recorded a voter turnout of 40.5 percent till 1 pm.Two men have reportedly died in inter-party clashes in Tadipatri constituency in Andhra Pradesh. According to reports online, Pulla Reddy of YSR Congress Party and S Bhaskar Reddy of the Telugu Desam Party have died after a clash broke out between the workers of the two parties. The incident occurred near booth No 197 in Veerapuram village.Clashes broke out between YSRCP and TDP workers in the Puthalapattu constituency’s Bandarlapalli area in Andhra Pradesh. The police had to resort to lathi-charge.Andhra Pradesh Speaker Dr Kodela Sivaprasada Rao fainted following an attack by YSRCP activists in Inumetla village of Sattenapalle constituency, _The Times of India_ reported.Odisha Chief Minister and BJD leader Naveen Patnaik took to Twitter to appeal to the people of Odisha to vote for a ‘glorious future for Odisha’.41 percent voter turnout has been reported from Sikkim, till 11 am.Odisha reported 22 percent voter turnout till 11 AM in the first phase of polls, the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer was quoted by OTV as saying.Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, after multiple reports of EVM failure in his state, has written to the chief electoral officer, urging him to hold re-election for the areas affected by faulty EVMs.“Likely that many voters who returned may not come back for voting even if polling is resumed after replacement/repair of existing EVMs. Therefore, re-polling needed in all polling stations where polling had not commenced up to 9.30 am.”N Chandrababu Naidu, Andhra Pradesh Chief MinisterSikkim’s oldest voter, 107-year-old Sumitra Rai cast her vote from the Poklok Kamraang Constituency in south Sikkim.Chief Minister of Sikkim Pawan Kumar Chamling cast his vote, along with his wife, News18 reported.A FirstPost report quoted the Odisha Chief Electoral Officer Surendra Kumar as saying that the voter turnout in the state was at seven percent till 9 am in the first phase of Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.Faulty EVMs are causing huge delays in polling, with only 6% turnout recorded in some areas. Polling is yet to begin in some booths in Madanapalli, Tambalapalli, Tirupati, Satyavedu, Renugunta and many other areas.Reports suggest 372 faulty EVMs have been found.Actor turned politician and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan cast his vote in Sri Chaitanya School in Andhra Pradesh’s Vijayawada.Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSR Congress Party workers have capruted a polling booth in Gonthuvaripalli village in the Rayalaseema area of Andhra Pradesh, according to an ETV Telugu report. They have reached an 80-20 arrangement with the Telugu Desam Party workers, and have shut the doors of the polling booth.YSRCP leader from Saniverapupeta Village, Matta Raju, was allegedly attacked by TDP workers outside the polling station at Indira Colony High School (Booth no 4,5,6) in Eluru AC, West Godavari district, The Times of India reported.The voter turnout at 8:30 am in Sikkim was recorded to be at 22 percent, according to FirstPost.Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Gopal Krishna Dwivedi cast his vote in Tadepalli and said there were complaints about technical glitches in EVMs in about 50 places.Technical teams were on the job to rectify the defects and enable polling, he said.Arunachal Chief Minister Pema Khandu, who is seeking a re-election, contesting from Mukto Assembly seat for the third consecutive term, urged people to exercise their right to vote.In a tweet, Khandu urged people to vote for a better tomorrow.TDP candidate for Narsaraopet, Aravinda Babu was attacked by YSRCP activists, according to The Hindu. The police has resorted to lathi-charge to quell the clashing of TDP and YSRCP workers.In Andhra Pradesh, hundreds of EVMs are reportedly not working and the voting has been stalled, News18 reported. 300 BHEL engineers have been called in for the repairs.Voters were reported waiting in long queues due to technical glitches in EVMs.According to a Times Now report, a Jana Sena candidate threw the EVM on the floor at a polling station in Andhra Pradesh. The MLA candidate further threatened to destroy more EVMs.Huffpost India reported that the Jana Sena candidate has been arrested for smashing an EVM on the floor.Working president of the Hamro Sikkim Party (HSP) and former football player Baichung Bhutia cast his vote from East Sikkim’s Pangthang, News18 reported.Voters reportedly returned from the polling booth at the Godibali UP school under Kashipur block in Odisha’s Rayagada district after delay in voting due to technical glitches in the EVMs, OTV reported.YSRCP polling agents damaged EVMs at Panakalapalem polling centre of Vinukonda constituency in Guntur district, The Times of India reported.Andhra Pradesh CM hopeful YS Jagan Mohan Reddy cast his vote in Kadapa. The YSRCP leader, while talking to the media, said that he hopes that the change people are looking for happens. “I’m pretty sure people are looking for a change, I hope it happens.”YS Jagan Mohan ReddyElectronic Voting Machines in 11 polling stations at Iragavaram mandal in West Godavari are not working, according to The Times of India.In another incident, technical glitches have delayed voting in several polling booths in the state’s Guntur district.The Election Commission has set up six pink polling booths in the west district of Sikkim. The pink booths are being managed by women staff guarded by women personnel.“The objective behind the establishment of pink polling stations was to motivate women voters to exercise their franchise.”M Lokesh, Deputy CommissionerThe pink booths also distributed “I Voted” stickers to PwD voters and all women voters.Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu also cast his vote, along with his family in Amravati city.Polling was delayed by roughly 45 minutes late at the Seventh Day Adventists school polling station in MVP Colony in Visakhapatnam East Assembly constituency as poll agents were late, The Hindu reported.A senior citizen said that the polling had not started at booth no 194 at Araku. According to the report, only 2 out of 8 EVMs are functioning at Araku Government High School.An hour after polling began in four Assembly elections, the Gujarati mandal school polling booth in Vijayawada did not commence polling yet, The Times of India reported.YSR Congress Party’s CM face Jagan Mohan Reddy arrived to cast his vote from Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh.The Federation of Telugu Churches (FTC), an apex body of bishops and church heads of several catholic and protestant denominations in Andhra and Telangana have urged christian voters to not identify themselves with one political party, The Times of India reported. The body also urged Christians in the two states to vote for a secular leader.Polling has begun for the 175 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, 32 in Sikkim, 28 seats in Odisha and 60 seats in Arunachal Pradesh.EVMs failed to work at booth number 153 in Andhra Pradesh’s Raptadu Assembly Constituency, The Hindu reported. Raptadu falls in the Ananthapur district. The report further said that EVMs in polling booth no. 101 in the Visakhapatnam East constituency was also not working.The competition in Odisha will be three-fold, between CM Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress.The BJD currently occupies 118 Assembly seats, the Congress has 16, the BJP has 10. The Independent and others have 3 seats in total.People of Sikkim will vote for the 32 Assembly seats on Thursday, 11 April, along with Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh. This will be the fourth consecutive time that the Assembly elections will be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections in the state.The fight this time is between three parties – CM Pawan Kumar Chamling’s Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) - who is eyeing a sixth term as CM, the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha and the rather new Hamro Sikkim Party (HSP), led by former football player Bhaichung Bhutia.According to a Times Now report, 4,23,167 people will be eligible to vote in Sikkim this year, including 2,16,133 males and 2,07,032 females and two trans people.The term for the current government will end on 27 May this year.The battle in Andhra Pradesh is between two men, both alike in ambition, but who are completely different in their political approach – Telugu Desam Party’s Nara Chandrababu Naidu, and YSR Congress Party’s Jagan Mohan Reddy.Jagan Mohan Reddy vs Chandrababu Naidu, Who’s Winning the Race?Odisha is the only state where the Assembly elections will be held in more than one phase. Here’s a lowdown:Phase I – Polling will be held in Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Berhampur and Koraput Lok Sabha segments and Assembly seats under their jurisdiction on 11 April on first phasePhase II – Voters in Bargarh, Sundargarh, Bolangir, Kandhamal and Aska Lok Sabha seats and Assembly segments under them will franchise their rights in second phase on 18 AprilPhase III – Polling will be held in Sambalpur, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Puri and Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha segments and Assembly constituencies under them on 23 April.Phase IV – Polling will be held in Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur Lok Sabha segments and Assembly constituencies under them on 29 AprilAndhra Pradesh recorded a 73 percent voter turnout as of 6 pm, while Arunachal Pradesh recorded a 66 percent turnout till 5 pm. Voter turnout in Sikkim is at 69 percent till 5 pm. Odisha, on the other hand, recorded a 68 percent voter turnout as of 5 pm. However, the final turnout is expected to rise, the Election Commission said.Zero polling was reported in 15 booths at Chitrakonda and Mathili Block of Malkangiri district in Odisha due to suspected Maoist fear, sources told The Quint .Polling for Assembly Elections in four states – Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim – began alongside the Lok Sabha elections on Thursday, 11 April.Two people were killed in clashes between TDP and YSRCP workers in Andhra PradeshAndhra Pradesh recorded a turnout of 73 percentOdisha recorded 68 percent voter turnoutSikkim recorded 69 percent voter turnout Arunachal Pradesh recorded 66 percent turnout Catch all the live updates of the Lok Sabha Elections polling in UP, Bihar, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh & Telangana and the Northeast here.(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)

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Assembly Polls: Andhra Pradesh Records 73% Voter Turnout

Sikkim will vote in all 32 constituencies, Andhra Pradesh in all 175, and Arunachal Pradesh in all 60.

TDP, YSR Congress Workers Clash in Kurnool

TDP Leader Sits on Dharna

68% Voter Turnout in Odisha till 5 PM

Arunachal Pradesh Recorded a Voter Turnout of 66% till 5 PM

73% Voter Turnout Recorded in Andhra Pradesh till 6 PM