Polling percentage in the elections to the Vizianagaram Municipal Corporation is expected to be impacted due to reported flaws in the voters’ lists.
With elections scheduled on Wednesday, many voters could not find their names in the voter lists in their respective divisions. Usually, flaws are corrected during revision of voter lists. However, the major political parties reportedly did not focus on this important aspect, resulting in a cascading effect during election time.
Local leaders and activists of all political parties are now reportedly running from pillar to post to distribute voters’ slips accurately to the people in their respective divisions. Vizianagaram MLA Kolagatla Veerabhadra Swamy. who was concerned about the issue, said that all the leaders should be careful during revision of the voters’ list as many voters would have shifted to other places.
“Many voters told us that their names were not in the list. We tried our best to identify their names and informed their divisions. But it has become a tedious process. We directed local leaders and activists to give top priority to revision which is taken up almost every year,” said Mr. Veerabhadra Swamy.
TDP leaders also faced the heat from voters in many divisions. They tried in vain to identify the details of booths and divisions of the voters.
Vizianagaram Collector M. Hari Jawaharlal and Vizianagaram Municipal Commissioner S.S. Varma directed helpdesks to help voters know their booths and divisions so that they would participate in the electoral franchise.
He said that all arrangements were made for the peaceful conduct of the elections in the Corporation limits. As many as 1,174 polling officers were deployed to conduct the elections in 196 polling stations of 49 divisions. The election which was postponed for the fourth division would be conducted on March 12.
The police department has identified 70 sensitive and 47 very sensitive polling booths in the city limits. Vizianagaram Superintendent of Police B. Rajakumari reviewed the law and order situation and said that the situation was under control. She urged political parties to bring their grievances to the police instead of indulging in arguments and clashes.
