LS polls: Stage set for polling in Seemandhra on Wednesday

Hyderabad: The stage is set for polling in the 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Legislative Assembly constituencies in Seemandhra on Wednesday.

As many as 3.68 crore voters would exercise their franchise in 40,709 polling stations spread across the 13 districts of Seemandhra. "There are 333 contesting candidates for parliamentary constituencies and 2,241 nominees for assembly segments," state Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwar Lal said in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Among the 175 assembly constituencies, polling would take place from 7 am to 6 pm in 165 seats. But in eight Naxal-hit segments, polling would be held from 7 am to 5 pm and in two others from 7 am to 4 pm.

Noting that elaborate security arrangements have been made for polling, the CEO said 272.1 companies of Central Police Force have been deployed.

This is in addition to the 95,158 state police force. Replying to a query about large-scale distribution of money and liquor to lure voters, he said it is a malpractice which would be dealt with sternly.

Those who accept such inducements are liable to be punished, he said, adding that the cases of offering inducements to the voters would be tried in the fast track courts.

Over Rs 137 crore of unaccounted cash has been seized so far in undivided AP during the enforcement of poll code.

Asked about the Lok Sabha candidate of Jai Samaikyandhra Party from Visakhapatnam, Sabbam Hari, announcing his withdrawal from contest, he said such candidates would be treated as dummy candidates.

When a scribe pointed out that Hari has declared his support to a major party candidate, he said he has received a complaint on the matter and a notice would be issued to him.

TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu, YSRCP president YS Jaganmohan Reddy, Union Ministers V Kishore Chandra Deo, MM Pallam Raju, Panabaka Lakshmi and former minister D Purandeswari are the prominent candidates in the fray.

The elections are a do-or-die battle for the main contenders TDP and YSRCP with Congress believed to be at the receiving end of the public anger over "unilateral" division of Andhra Pradesh.