Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Governor S Abdul Nazeer and Visakhapatnam Member of Parliament M Sribharat cast their votes in the ongoing urban local body elections in the state on Sunday and appealed to citizens to participate in the democratic process.
Governor S Abdul Nazeer, accompanied by his wife Sameera Nazeer, exercised his franchise at the polling station in Governorpet (60th Division) in Vijayawada.On the occasion, the Governor appealed to every citizen to responsibly exercise their right to vote.
Meanwhile, Visakhapatnam MP M Sribharat cast his vote at the Visakha Seva Sadhan School polling station and expressed concern over the relatively low voter turnout in the city.He said that the polling percentage was slightly below 20 per cent as of 12 noon and urged people, particularly youngsters and senior citizens, to come out and vote.“It is about 12 right now; the voting percentage is a little short of 20 per cent. We would obviously want it to go up. It is a lazy Sunday and also State Formation Day, so people are slowly coming out to vote,” he said.
Highlighting the importance of municipal bodies in addressing everyday civic issues, Sribharat said local corporations play a significant role in providing basic facilities to residents.“I request you, local bodies are very important because 90 percent of the issues citizens face, whether it is roads, drainage, sanitation, waste management, lighting, CCTV cameras, all of these are taken care of by your local corporation. In our case, being a large city, the corporation also has the money to implement these changes,” he said.
He appealed to voters across age groups to participate in the elections and said that voting was essential for strengthening democracy.“I appeal to youngsters, senior citizens, everyone, please come out and exercise your vote. Please show that you care about how democracy functions. There is always a feeling that ‘does my vote really matter?’ and ‘even when I vote, things don’t change.’ In democracies, things are slow. But this is how we have chosen to be. We value individual freedom, our constitutional rights, and that means democracy will include debate, and debate includes a lot of different people,” he said.He further said that democratic progress takes time and urged citizens to turn out in numbers comparable to the general elections.“So it is two steps forward, one step back. But progress is happening and we are all noticing it. So we want our citizens to come out in large numbers and vote as much as was seen in the general elections, if not more,” he added.
Meanwhile, polling for the Eluru Municipal Corporation elections is progressing peacefully, with voters turning out to exercise their franchise. The corporation recorded a voter turnout of 37 per cent as of 12 noon.Polling is underway for the Urban Local Body (ULB) elections in Andhra Pradesh. Voting began at 7 am and will continue till 5 pm across 92 urban local bodies, comprising 13 Municipal Corporations and 79 Municipalities and Nagar Panchayats.
The election is being seen as the first major mid-term political test for the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition led by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu since it assumed office after a landslide win in the 2024 Assembly elections.Polling is scheduled for November 1, with repolling, if required, on November 2. Counting of votes and declaration of results will take place on November 3.Over 36,000 police personnel have been deployed across 4,372 polling locations to ensure a peaceful process, following minor clashes between the TDP and the opposition YSRCP during the nomination phase.
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