76% of votes from Tekkali Bypolls

Srikakulam, Sept 10 :

 The polling was by and large peaceful in the by-election to the Tekkali Assembly constituency held on Thursday. An estimated 76 per cent of 1.75 lakh voters exercised their franchise through 400 electronic voting machines in 233 polling stations. In some polling booths, the staff complained about non-functioning of electronic voting machines (EVM), which delayed voting and also resulted in long queues. However, the officials immediately replaced them with new ones and polling resumed as usual.

Six candidates are in the race in the by-election though the contest is mainly between nominees of the Congress (K Bharati), Telugu Desam (K Atchan Naidu) and Duvvada Srinivas (Praja Rajyam).  Superintendent of Police said that 1,245 polling personnel and 1,200 police had been deployed along with 44 mobile and 12 striking forces to oversee the exercise.  The votes will be counted at Srikakulam Degree College from 8 am onwards on September 14.