Andhra Pradesh municipal election result: Counting of votes begins; HC gives green signal in Jagan's Pulivendula

The counting of votes for municipal elections across 92 urban local bodies in Andhra Pradesh municipal elections began at 8 am on Tuesday, state election commission authorities said.Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and ex-CM Jagan Mohan Reddy. (File)The polling was held on November 1, amidst stray incidents of clashes and protests in some parts of the state, with an overall poll percentage of 60.96 per cent.Repolling in 12 wards across seven urban local bodies in five districts recorded a turnout of 60.64 per cent on Monday.The political future of 520 candidates contesting for mayoral and chairperson positions, along with 10,105 candidates who contested for councillor and corporator posts, will be decided by Tuesday evening. Track LIVE updates hereThe SEC said it had made extensive arrangements for the counting process at 138 centres across Andhra Pradesh. As many as 47,817 officials, employees and other personnel will be involved in the exercise.According to the counting procedure, ballot papers will first be arranged into bundles of 25 each before the actual counting begins. Officials estimate that the initial process of sorting and bundling ballot papers based on the votes polled in different divisions and wards will take between one and one-and-a-half hours.After completion of this preliminary exercise, the counting of votes will begin and the results will be declared in phases.Cyclone Murasu to delay counting for 2 districtsThe counting process in Prakasam and Bapatla districts will get delayed by three-and-a-half hours due to the prevailing adverse weather conditions on account of Cyclone Murasu, causing heavy rainfall accompanied by high velocity winds.“The district administration in these districts expressed inability to take up counting of votes, due to disruption to normal movement and transportation of counting material. It would be extremely difficult for the counting staff to reach their respective counting centres at the scheduled time,” state election commissioner Anil Chandra Punetha said, adding that the district authorities wanted postponement of the counting process in these two districts.Punetha said the Commission rescheduled the commencement of counting of votes from 8 am to 11.30 am in these two districts. “If there is no respite from heavy rains, the commission will take further decision in the matter,” he added.Counting of votes in Pulivendula gets HC nodMeanwhile, the state high court, at 7.30 am on Tuesday, delivered its judgement giving the green signal for counting of votes in the municipal elections at Pulivendula in YSR Kadapa district, people familiar with the matter said.The high court dismissed petitions filed by YSR Congress Party candidate for Kadapa chairperson post Y S Pramila and party MP Y S Avinash Reddy, seeking a halt to the counting process.The petitioners had requested the court to direct the SEC to conduct repolling in all wards of the Pulivendula municipality, instead of restricting it to the four wards where repolling had already been conducted. They also sought suspension of the counting process until repolling was completed across the municipality.Arguments in the petitions concluded in the high court on Monday. The court pronounced its verdict at 7.30 a.m. on Tuesday, rejecting the pleas and clearing the way for counting of votes in Pulivendula.NDA confident of win, YSRCP hoping for strong fightOf the 13 mayoral posts in urban local bodies where elections were held, the ruling NDA alliance partners divided the contest among themselves. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) contested in 10 municipal corporations, Jana Sena Party in two and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in one.The YSRCP, meanwhile, fielded candidates in all 13 mayoral contests, setting up direct electoral battles against the alliance partners.Of the 87 municipalities and nagar panchayats, chairperson candidates were elected unanimously in 17 places. Elections were held for the remaining 70 chairperson posts.Among the alliance partners, TDP candidates contested for 49 chairperson positions, Jana Sena candidates for 17 and BJP candidates for four. The YSRCP fielded candidates in all 70 constituencies where elections were held.The ruling coalition is confident that its development and welfare programmes will help its candidates secure victories across the State. The YSRCP, on the other hand, is hoping to put up a strong fight in at least some municipalities and urban local bodies.