News Politics National Polling underway in Seemandhra amid sporadic clashes

Polling underway in Seemandhra amid sporadic clashes

Hyderabad: Polling is underway Wednesday for 25 Lok Sabha and 175 assembly seats in Seemandhra amid sporadic clashes between activists of rival parties, officials said.Long queues were seen since early morning at many polling stations

About 36.76 million people are eligible to vote in the second phase which will cover nine districts in coastal Andhra and four in Rayalaseema.

Seemandhra, as the two regions are together called, will come into being as separate state of Andhra Pradesh June 2 with the formation of Telangana region as a separate state.

As many as 335 candidates are in the fray for the Lok Sabha elections while 2,241 contestants are testing their political fortunes in the assembly polls.

Polling, which began at 7 a.m., will conclude at 4 p.m. in two Maoist affected assembly constituencies and at 5 p.m. in eight segments. In the remaining 165 constituencies, the polling will end at 6 p.m.

Over 100,000 police personnel and 272 companies of central paramilitary forces have been deployed as part of the massive security arrangements.