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Counting of votes in 92 urban local bodies in Andhra Pradesh began on Tuesday, with election officials and agents arriving at designated counting centres amid security arrangements across the state.
The counting process covers 13 municipal corporations and 79 municipalities and Nagar Panchayats. In Visakhapatnam, agents and officials arrived at a counting centre near Andhra University Engineering College, where preparations and security arrangements were in place ahead of the counting process. The elections were held on November 1, with polling conducted from 7 am to 5 pm. Repolling, wherever required, was conducted on November 2. The civic polls covered 13 municipal corporations, including Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Guntur, Nellore, Kurnool, Kadapa and Tirupati, along with 79 municipalities and Nagar Panchayats. The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation mayoral contest is among the closely watched electoral battles, with NDA-backed Jana Sena candidate Vangaveeti Radhakrishna, YSR Congress Party candidate and former mayor Rayana Bhagyalakshmi, and independent candidate A B Venkateswara Rao, a former Director General of Police, in the fray. The municipal elections are being viewed as a significant political test for the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, following its victory in the 2024 Assembly elections. The results are also expected to indicate the electoral standing of the opposition YSR Congress Party in the state's urban centres. Earlier on Sunday, the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) alleged a discrepancy in the polling figures for Pulivendula, questioning how 681 votes were recorded under the Others category when the official voter list reportedly had only 14 voters in that category. The allegation comes amid the YSRCP's complaints of irregularities during municipal polling in Pulivendula. YSRCP president and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy also met the Returning Officer (RO) in Pulivendula and submitted a representation alleging irregularities during the polling process. Reddy alleged that around 70 YSRCP polling agents were not allowed to enter polling booths and demanded immediate intervention by the Returning Officer to ensure a fair polling process. Following the meeting, he staged a sit-in protest outside the Returning Officer's office in Pulivendula, demanding justice for the party's polling agents. (ANI)
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