70 per cent polling in Kadapa bypolls

About 70 per cent of the electors cast their votes in the Kadapa Lok Sabha and 81 per cent in the Pulivendula assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday

Barring stray incidents, the bye-elections in Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency, which will determine the political future of former MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, passed off peacefully even as 248 anti-social elements were taken into preventive custody, a top police officer said.

Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency recorded 69.5 per cent turnout while it was 81 per cent in Pulivendula, one of the seven assembly segments of the Kadapa parliamentary constituency. 

The polling was 70.59 per cent in Mydukuru, 63.22 in Kamalapuram, 67.28 in Kadapa, 80.18 in Badwell, 65.3 in Jammalamadugu and 70.3 per cent in Produttur assembly segments of Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency which has 1,328,869 voters, including 189,000 in Pulivendula. 

Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police K Aravinda Rao said that police had to fire in the air at Siddagaripalli village under Pulivendula sub-division to disperse supporters of Congress and YSR Congress who clashed with each other and resorted to stone pelting about half a kilometre away from the polling station.

However, nobody was injured in the police firing and situation was brought under control effectively, he said.

Y S Vijayalakshmi, wife of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and nominee of YSR Congress is contesting from Pulivendula assembly segment against her brother-in-law and Congress candidate Y S Vivekananda Reddy.

In a separate incident, a clash was reported between two groups at K Sunkesula village of Kazipet mandal in which an OB van of Sakshi news channel, owned by YSR Congress  chief Jagan Mohan Reddy, was damaged, police said.

"At both these places, polling process was not disturbed," the DGP said.

In view of the high-profile candidates and political sensitivity of the bypolls, elaborate security arrangements had been done with deployment over 11,000 security personnel, police said.

The process of escorting the polling personnel along with the EVMs to the counting centres was in progress, the DGP said. As many as 248 anti-social elements were taken into preventive custody and as a precautionary measure 320 vehicles were seized for illegal use during the elections today, he added.