AP Elections 2019 Live: 76.7 per cent voter turnout in the state

Barring minor incidents in Eluru and Denduluru assembly constituencies, polling was peaceful in East and West Godavari districts. Supporters of TDP’s Eluru candidate and MLA Badeti Kota Ramarao and YSRC candidate Alla Kalikrishna Srinivas alias Nani clashed at the polling station.

To enable more people to cast their votes, some members of a biking community provided assistance to elderly and ailing voters by taking them to polling booths and dropped them back home. Eight bikers in different parts of the city were active in ‘Ride for Vote’ initiative that they took up. To ensure that the polling day is not treated as a holiday, volunteers from JCIVizag and Lion’s Club motivated young voters to cast their votes.

The electoral officials said that the weather conditions did not impact polling, but delayed the activity to late evening hours till 9 pm against the original schedule of 6 pm.

Chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu shot off four letters to the Election Commission of India and director general of police (DGP) as the elections were underway with regard to the malfunctioning of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and instances of violence reported at various places in the state.

Elections in Andhra Pradesh were marred by violence on Thursday as clashes between TDP and YSR Congress left two persons dead and scores wounded. In one incident, TDP worker Chinta Bhaskar Reddy died as YSRC and TDP workers clashed with sticks and stones at Veerapuram village in Anantapur district. In the clash, YSRC worker Pulla Reddy received severe head injuries and his condition is said to be critical. Bhaskar is a follower of TDP MP JC Diwakar Reddy.

The state created a record of sorts when polling continued till late in the night on Thursday in about 400 polling stations across the state. One of the polling stations was at Jakkampudi in Vijayawada. Jakkampudi is part of Mylavaram assembly constituency.

Members of YSR Congress Party were jubilant over the voter turnout across the state on Thursday. The massive turnout of voters and the peaceful polling, barring some stray incidents, is being seen as a positive trend for the party. YSRC leaders claim that the people have voted for change in the government. “The vote is for change and people want Jaganmohan Reddy’s regime. They have confidence in Reddy’s election promises,” asserted party spokesperson Vasireddy Padma.

YSRC chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy held Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu responsible for the violence during the elections in the state. Jagan said that the high turnout could mean only one thing: “YSRCP will get a landslide. I won’t say how many seats we will win, but the YSRCP will form the next government.”

With the polling in the bitterly fought elections in Andhra Pradesh over, the question on every mind is whether Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao's gameplan to see YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in power will succeed and if not what would be its impact on the relations between the two Telugu states.

High tension prevailed in Undavalli village of Mangalagiri constituency when IT minister Nara Lokesh staged dharna in protest against the failure of Election Commission (EC) in ensuring peaceful polling on Thursday.