Repoll to Visakha-I Assembly segment postponed

Visakhapatnam, Mar 16 (UNI) The Election Commission today postponed the repoll to Visakhapatnam-I Assembly Constituency from March 25 to April 24.

This came in the wake of repoll date coinciding with tenth standard examinations begining on March 20. Both the education department and the voters had sought the postponment of the repoll due to this reason.

Several controversies had marred the by-election of this segment, comprising mainly of old town area adjoining the Harbour of this port city. The bypoll was necessitated by the death of sitting Congress member D Satyanarayana.

The bypoll was first held on February 19. Following complaints that leading political parties, mainly Congress and Telugu Desam, had indulged in malpractices like distribution of liquor and money to lure the voters to vote their party and misuse of official machinery, the EC postponed the counting and appointed a two-member probe team to look into the charges.

After the team submitted its report, EC decided to order the repoll.

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