First phase of civic polls begins in AP

Hyderabad, June 28 (UNI) The first phase of local body elections in the state covering 11 districts began this morning amidst tight security as Maoists had called for poll boycott and a bandh today.

More than 1.98 crore people were expected to exercise their franchise in 25,831 polling stations to decide the electoral fortunes of 2126 candidates in 572 ZPTC seats and 23,000 candidates in 7915 MPTC seats.

The State Election Commission (SEC) pressed into service four helicopters to reach remote villages including East Godavari and Prakasam.

The districts going to polls were Adilabad, Anantapur, East Godavari, Kadapa, Karimnagar, Krishna, Kurnool, Medak, Nalgonda, Prakasam and Vizianagaram.

While the ruling Congress had forged ties with the TRS and CPI, the opposition TDP had entered into an understanding with the CPI(M). Both the BJP and the BSP were contesting the polls alone.

UNI SM AJ VA PC1007