Andhra Pradesh recorded 79.74 percent voting in simultaneous elections to the Assembly and the Lok Sabha on April 11, the Election Commission said on Tuesday, revising its final figures as polling was marred by delay due to the non-functioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs)
According to the Chief Electoral Officer Gopalakrishna Dwivedi, of the 3,93,45,717 voters, 3,13,33,163 cast their vote in the state. The poll officials on April 12 had put the turnout at 79.05 percent. It has now been revised after receipt of reports from all constituencies.
However, media reports suggested that there was still a possibility of a repoll being held in five polling centres in the state, which include two each in Guntur and Nellore district and one in Prakasam district.
Reports filed by the concerned returning officers found that many voters could not cast their vote due to technical issues with the EVM, following which Dwivedi sent a recommendation to the Election Commission of India in New Delhi, suggesting that repolling take place in these five polling booths.
The Election Commission is expected to announce its decision on Wednesday, media reports stated. However, the poll panel would also have to consider that several people had travelled to their native constituency to vote and may have returned to their work places, which could lead to a lower turnout in case of a repoll.
A total of 319 candidates were in the fray for the 25 Lok Sabha seats and 2,118 for the 175-member Assembly. The ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP), opposition YSRCP and actor-politician Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party-led alliance were in the fray.
The highest voter turnout was recorded in the Narasaraopet Lok Sabha constituency, which saw 85.53 percent voting. The Visakhapatnam constituency registered lowest turnout of 67.25 percent.
Interestingly, in the previous elections, Bapatla and Visakhapatnam had recorded highest and lowest turnout at 85.16 percent and 67.53 percent, respectively.
This was the first general election held in Andhra Pradesh after bifurcation of the state in June 2014, which led to the creation of Telangana.
The previous elections held in undivided Andhra Pradesh had witnessed 74.64 percent polling.
IANS inputs