Voting underway for Nandyal Assembly bypoll in AP

Nearly 30 per cent polling was reported in the first three hours of the byelection to Nandyal Assembly seat in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh today.

People turned up in good numbers at the polling stations to exercise their franchise, in the election that could well set the trend for the general election due in 2019.The polling so far remained without any incident, a senior police official said.

Over 2,500 police personnel were deployed to take care of the law and situation in Nandyal.

The Election Commission was monitoring the poll process through webcams in each of the 255



polling stations.For the first time, Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) is being used in the byelection.

The bypoll was necessitated following the death of sitting MLA Bhuma Nagi Reddy, who won the seat in 2014 as YSR Congress candidate but later switched over to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 2016.

The TDP has fielded Reddy's nephew Brahmananda Reddy while the YSRC put up former minister Silpa Chandra Mohan Reddy, who lost the seat as TDP nominee in 2014.

Though there are 15 candidates in the fray, the main fight is between the TDP and the YSRC.