Voting underway for MLC elections in Andhra Pradesh

Amaravati: Voting for MLC elections to three constituencies in Andhra Pradesh began by Thursday morning.

Legislative Council elections are being held for two graduate constituencies in the undivided districts of East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, and Guntur, as well as one teacher constituency in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. Voting began by 8 am and it will close by 4 pm.

According to an official statement, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is scheduled to cast his vote at a school in Undavalli, Guntur district.

Over 6.62 lakh electors are expected to cast their votes in the graduate constituency elections while 22,493 voters are expected to participate in the teacher constituency election for the southern state's Legislative Council.

Altogether, MLC elections are being held in 1,062 polling stations in 18 districts. Up to 70 candidates are in fray. Tight security arrangements have been put in place at all the polling stations.

P Rahgu Varma, G Srinivasulu Naidu and Vijaya Gouri are among the candidates for the teacher constituency election.

TDP leader A Rajendra Prasad, representing the NDA alliance, is contesting the Krishna-Guntur graduate MLC seat.

Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) candidate K S Lakshman Rao is challenging Prasad.

Similarly, P Rajasekharam is contesting the undivided East and West Godavari districts graduate MLC election. Meanwhile, the YSRCP has decided not to contest the MLC polls.

The Election Commission has scheduled the counting of votes for March 3.