Andhra Pradesh polls: High-decibel campaign ends, polling on May 13

Amaravati: A high-decibel campaign by political parties for the May 13 simultaneous polls for Lok Sabha and Assembly ended at 6 PM on Saturday.

As many as 503 candidates are in the fray for Lok Sabha and 2,705 for Assembly polls, according to Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer MK Meena.

The total number of voters in the southern state is 4.41 crore, which includes 2.02 crore male, 2.1 crore female, 3,421 third gender voters and 68,185 service electors.

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

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

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.

YSRCP chief Reddy and TDP supremo Naidu held several poll rallies across the state.

Other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several union ministers including Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, and Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi 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.

Meanwhile, exuding confidence in 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 'X', Reddy called himself ‘Arjun’, who is accompanied by Lord Krishna-like people to emerge triumphant.

Opposition leader Naidu in a post on 'X' 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.

Requesting every individual to mobilise four more voters, he called on Andhra Pradesh people living in other states also to come and vote, adding that the NDA alliance has a clear-cut blueprint to herald development.

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 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.

Inputs from PTI