At a time while many youngsters showed no interest in stirring out of their houses to cast their vote in the Urban Local Body elections in Anantapur district on Wednesday, a student, Anantha Mahima, flew home from the United States on Tuesday to reach on time for the polling date in her ward.
Ms. Mahima, daughter of Anantha Subba Reddy (brother of Anantapur Urban MLA Anantha Venkatarami Reddy), accompanied her uncle to the polling booth in Nehru School on the Court Road to cast her vote.
Pursuing her higher studies in the U.S., Ms. Mahima said it was essential for every citizen to vote for ensuring the development of the city.
“We will have the moral right to question the candidate whom we vote to the council,” Ms. Mahima said while showing the indelible mark on her finger.
Anantapur MP Talari Rangaiah exercised his franchise in Ward No.50. Rayadurg MLA Kapu Ramachandra Reddy and CPI(M) district secretary V. Rambhupal too cast their vote along with their family members.
Balayya stands in queue, votes
Actor-tuned-politician Nandamuri Balakrishna and his wife Vasundhara Devi stood in queue along with others and exercised their franchise at Hindupur.
Since the polling booths of many people in Anantapur were not the same as they were in the 2019 elections, they had to depend on the website – https://sec.ap.gov.in/homepage.do – to locate their booths. But as the police and polling officials did not allow them to take their cell phones into the polling booth, they found it difficult to log into the website.
When the issue was brought to the notice of District Election Authority Gandham Chandrudu, he permitted the people to carry their cell phones in ‘switch off’ mode.
