HYDERABAD, 21 April 2004 — There was a heavy voter turnout of 65 percent in the first phase polls to the state assembly and Lok Sabha in Andhra Pradesh yesterday. The polling was, by and large, peaceful.
Chief Electoral Officer M. Narayan Rao told newsmen last evening that the polling percentage ranged between 50 to 52 percent in Hyderabad-Secunderabad to as high as 69 percent in Khammam and 78 percent in Bobbili parliamentary constituency. In all, 21 Lok Sabha constituencies comprising 147 assembly segments went to the polls.
Director-General of Police S.R. Sukumara said that though the outlawed People’s War Group of Naxalites had given a call for poll boycott and held out threats, the polling was between 65 to 70 percent in the Naxalite-affected areas. He said that in 1999, the Naxalites had killed one person on the polling day but this time, not a single fatality was reported.
The DGP said that the police opened fire at two places to quell riotous mobs. In Kodad in Nalgonda district, the police fired two rounds in the air to quell warring groups belonging to the Congress and Telugu Desam. No one was injured.
In Bhogapuram in Vizianagaram district, police fired six rounds of fire to separate clashing groups of Congress and TDP activists. In all, 11 persons from both groups were injured in the clashes.
In all 50 incidents were reported from the 10 districts that went to the polls yesterday. Six incidents involved Naxalite violence. At Koyyur in Viskhapatnam district, six Naxalites took away polling material and the government jeep around 9.45 a.m. Later, the polling officers came to Ramavarm police station on foot and lodged a complaint.
At Cherla in Khammam district, the Naxalites stopped a bus transporting polling personnel and polling material. They asked the polling personnel to come out and later set the bus on fire. At Kotagiri village in Nizamabad district, the Naxalites damaged two electronic voting machines. At Lingampalli village in Warangal district, the Naxalites exploded a land mine when a polling party was returning in the evening. Exchange of fire ensued between the Naxalites and the police party that accompanied the polling personnel. In Asifabad in Adilabad district, there was a land mine blast at around 6.30 p.m. when a polling party was returning.
Meanwhile, City Commissioner of Police R.P. Singh said that the polling for the Hyderabad and Secunderabad parliamentary constituencies and the 13 assembly segments in Hyderabad city was peaceful. No major incidents occurred in connection with the elections. The police made elaborate arrangements and took preventive measures to maintain peace and order and to ensure peaceful conduct of polls.
The commissioner said that only a dozen minor incidents occurred, particularly in the Old City area, relating to altercations between Majlis-e-Ittehaadul Muslimeen and Majlis Bachao Tahreek activists. In one such clash, two policemen sustained injuries in stone-pelting.
The city police booked 13 cases and arrested 14 persons in connection with these incidents. In all 246 persons were taken into preventive custody. As many as 26 vehicles were seized for transporting voters and 212 persons were detained for going in these vehicles for casting bogus votes. In two prepoll incidents, the police seized cash of 32,000 rupees and 200,000 rupees meant for distribution to voters. The vehicles were seized and the accused persons were arrested.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu celebrated a tense 55th birthday yesterday even as the volatile Telangana region, facing a strong movement for a separate state, went to the polls along with the three north coastal Andhra districts.
Naidu’s birthday turned out to be a low-key affair with some schoolchildren visiting his residence at Jubilee Hills and greeting him on the occasion.
