Andhra Pradesh set to go for LS, assembly polls in single phase

Amaravati: After an intense campaign marked by fervent speeches from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, and several other prominent leaders across political parties, the stage is set for polling on Monday to elect the 175- member AP assembly and also 25 Lok Sabha seats from the state.

YSRCP president Jagan (Pulivendula), TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu (Kuppam) and Janasena chief and actor Pawan Kalyan (Pithapuram), among others, are in the Assembly poll race.

AP Congress president and Jagan's sister YS Sharmila (Kadapa) and BJP state chief Purandeswari (Rajamahendravaram), among others, are in Lok Sabha poll fray.

The YSRCP is contesting in all 175 Assembly seats and 25 Lok Sabha segments in the state.

As part of a seat sharing deal among NDA partners, the TDP was allocated 144 Assembly and 17 Lok Sabha constituencies while the BJP will contest from six Lok Sabha and 10 Assembly seats.

The Janasena will contest two Lok Sabha and 21 Assembly seats.

The YSR Congress campaign centred around the welfare measures that it implemented during the past five years while the NDA highlighted the "failures" of the state government and the doles it would provide, if voted to power in the state and the job creation it would do.

Besides PM Modi, several union ministers including Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, and Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge undertook poll campaigns for their respective party candidates.

For the smooth conduct of the polls, the Election Commission has deployed 1.06 lakh security personnel, who included 3,500 Karnataka police, 4,500 Tamil Nadu police, 1,614 ex-servicemen and 246 retired police personnel, among others.

The polling will start at 7 AM and end at 6 PM in the state, barring a few places where it will conclude one or two hours before.

The total number of voters in the southern state is 4.14 crore, which includes 2.02 crore male, 2.1 crore female, 3,421 third gender voters and 68,185 service electors.

As many as 454 candidates are in the fray for Lok Sabha and 2,387 for Assembly polls, according to Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer MK Meena.

Exuding confidence about winning the polls, the YSRCP chief asserted that he is no ‘Abhimanyu’ to succumb to the alleged political conspiracies plotted by the opposition parties.

In a post on Saturday on 'X', Reddy called himself ‘Arjun’, who is accompanied by Lord Krishna-like people to emerge triumphant.

Opposition leader Naidu in a post on 'X' had appealed to the people of the state to exercise their franchise on May 13 as it is crucial for the future direction of Andhra Pradesh.

The YSRCP won 151 seats, TDP-23 and Janasena-1 in the last Assembly polls while the ruling party emerged victorious in 22 and Chandrababu Naidu-led party in three Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 elections.