Andhra Pradesh set for crucial by-elections

Hyderabad: The stage is set for by-polls to four Lok Sabha and 18 Assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday in an exercise seen as a semifinal before elections to the state assembly and the Lok Sabha due next year.

Four MPs and 16 state legislators of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) resigned en masse in March in protest against the delay in according separate statehood to the Telangana region and to seek a fresh mandate on the issue, necessitating the by-elections.

9,000 polling stations

In two assembly constituencies, the elections have been called after the deaths of one MLA each of the ruling Congress and the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

Election authorities have set up more than 9,000 poling stations for the by-polls and deployed over 63,000 policemen for security arrangements.

Director General of Police S.S.P. Yadav yesterday said the police personnel, including those from paramilitary forces, had already been deployed to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections.

Of the 4,965 villages going to by-polls, police have identified 965 as hyper-sensitive and 1,683 as sensitive. Yadav said 1,025 villagers were identified as extremist-affected.

In all, 42 assembly segments are going to polls, in which 8.6 million people are eligible to vote. There are 174 candidates in the field.

For the Adilabad, Warangal, Hanamkonda and Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituencies, 29 candidates are in the fray. For the 16 assembly seats, 145 candidates are trying their luck.

Extensive campaigning

Electioneering ended on Tuesday evening with Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu and TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao extensively touring the constituencies in a last-minute bid to woo the voters.