Election Campaign Ends In Seemandhra

The electioneering for the 175 assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats in the Seemandhra region came to an end on Monday evening.

A total of 3.67 crore voters will on May 7 decide the fate of 333 candidates for the Lok Sabha and 2,241 candidates for the AP Assembly, including stalwarts like TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, YSRCP President Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, cine actor Balakrishna and others.

The Election Commission has set up 40,788 polling centres where voters will exercise their franchise through 1.26 lakh electronic voting machines.

The Seemandhra region has witnessed an unprecedentedly intense campaign by the TDP-BJP combine, the YSR Congress Party and the Congress. New entrant Jai Samaikhyandhra Party led by former chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy is also in the fray in some constituencies.

While AICC President Sonia Gandhi and Vice-President Rahul Gandhi addressed a few meetings to convince the voters on what forced them to divide the State, BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and cine actor Pavan Kalyan addressed meetings along with Chandrababu Naidu, and promised to bring development in the region.

Naidu's son Lokesh too participated in the campaign for TDP-BJP candidates.

Kiran Kumar Reddy tried to convince the voters that the State would remain undivided following intervention by the Supreme Court.

Jagan's entire family has participated in the campaign, asking the electors to vote for the YSR Congress Party to bring back the YSR era. Jagan's mother Y S Vijayamma, sister Sharmila and wife Bharati addressed several meetings in the region.

Analysts say that it would a straight contest between the TDP and the YSRCP in most of the seats, while the Congress will be confined to the 3rd position in the Seemandhra region. However, Congress leaders have claimed that their party would perform better in the region. (INN)