Repoll ordered in 17 Andhra polling stations

Hyderabad, April 16 (IANS) The Election Commission Thursday ordered repolling in 17 voting centres in Andhra Pradesh's Mahbubnagar district following incidents of violence.

Villagers in Aiza area, who were protesting their inclusion in Alampur assembly constituency in the delimitation process, attacked polling stations and destroyed electronic voting machines (EVM). They also attacked a police station and the house of a local public representative.

The state's chief electoral officer I.V. Subba Rao told reporters here that repolling would be held in 17 voting stations.

The trouble began when police arrested a man distributing pamphlets near a polling station, appealing to voters to boycott the polling to protest delimitation of constituencies. Soon other villagers staged a protest and attacked polling stations and set EVMs afire.

Police had a tough time in controlling the situation and the polling had to be stopped in 17 centres.

Rao said polling was on in the remaining polling stations in the area. The people were protesting the delimitation process under which the area was removed from Gadwal assembly constituency and included in Alampur. A case in this regard is pending in the Supreme Court.