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AP civic polls peaceful

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

Police fired in the air at two places to quell violent clashes, even as 60 per cent polling was reported in the civic polls for 103 municipalities and five municipal corporations held in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday.

Director-General of Police H J Dora said that the polling, by and large, was peaceful.

In Bapatla town in Guntur district police opened fire in the air to disperse an unruly mob. No one was injured.

At around 12.30 pm, 200 Congress activists tried to enter booth no. 17 at Bapatla town to prevent alleged rigging by their opponents. When police stopped them, the mob manhandled one reserve sub-inspector.

As the situation got tense, the policemen opened nine rounds in the air.

In the other incident at Ongole town, the police opened fire in the air to disperse clashing groups of Congress and Telugu Desam Party workers near a polling booth in ward no. 16.

Over 45,000 police personnel were deployed across the state for the polls. Over 1000 mobile parties, 400 striking forces and 150 special striking forces were also pressed into service.

In all, 16,103 candidates were in the fray.

Officials sources said polling was peaceful in Bhongir municipality -- the home town of Panchayat Raj Minister A Madhava Reddy who was killed in a landmine blast triggered by the outlawed People's War Group of Naxalites on Tuesday night.

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