TIRUPATI ALL SET FOR LOK SABHA POLLS TODAY

Authorities have made elaborate arrangements for Saturday’s by-election to the Tirupati (SC) Lok Sabha seat to ensure a smooth polling in seven Assembly segments of Chittoor and Nellore district that fall under the parliamentary segment. Polling will be held between 7 am to 7 pm.

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Election Commission has added 501 polling booths – 251 in Nellore district and 250 in Chittoor district, in addition to the existing polling stations that were set up during the 2019 election, fulfilling the ECIs instructions of one polling station for every 1,000 voters.

In total, as many as 2470 polling stations – 1056 PSs in Chittoor district, covering three Assembly segments, including Tirupati (382), Srikalahasti (362) and Satyavedu (312) and 1,414 PSs in Nellore district, covering four Assembly segments, including Gudur (366), Venkatagiri (366), Sullurpeta

(343) and Sarvepalli (339), have been arranged. Polling stations were divided into 260 sectors with 877 declared critical.

Approximately, 28 candidates, including independents are in the fray. The prominent ones being Dr M. Gurumurthy (YSRC), Panabaka Lakshmi (TD), K. Ratna Prabha (BJPJSP), Chinta Mohan (Congress) and Nellore Yadagiri (CPI-M).

There will be a mock polling around 6 am on Saturday.

As per Covid-19 guidelines, medical teams are being deputed at all polling stations to check voters before they enter booths. The ECI has provided postal ballot facilities to the elderly (508 octogenarians), physically challenged

(284) and election staff (3,195). As per the data, around

12,87,734 votes of the total

16,50,453 electors were polled in the 2019 general election, recording a poll percentage of

78.99 per cent. In all, the Tirupati Assembly segment recorded least polling percentage at 66.05, followed by Gudur

(78.12), Venkatagiri (78.62), Srikalahasti (81.81), Sarvepalli

(82.42), Sullurpeta (82.86) and Sathyavedu with 86.09 per cent.