111 arrested, 30 hurt in poll violence

Hyderabad, Jun 29 : Despite the opposition's claim that three people had died in the just concluded first phase of local body elections in Andhra Pradesh, both Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and DGP Swaranjit denied that there were any deaths.

The DGP's office in a statement said that 111 people were arrested in different parts of 11 districts which went to polls, with Kurnool standing in the first place with 105 arrests. The statement said that 34 cases under different sections have been booked and only 30 people were hurt in different incidents.

Police opened fire at nine places in Krishna, Prakasham, Anantapur, Kadapa and Kurnool districts and resorted to lathicharge in Kadapa. Three policemen were injured while trying to control two rival groups at Krishna district, and two persons were injured in police action. Two instances of hurling of bombs were reported in Kadapa district.

A total of 22 mischief cases pertaining to ballot papers were registered, East Godavari alone registered six cases.

In all, the repoll has been ordered in 19 polling stations in Prakasham (3), Anantapur (7), Kadapa (3), Nalgonda (4) and Adilabad (2).

UNI