Polling underway for 25 Lok Sabha, 175 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh

Polling for 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh is underway with voters standing in queues to exercise their franchise on MondayAfter an intense campaign marked by fervent speeches from Prime Minister Narendra Modi Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and several other prominent leaders across political parties over the past several weeks polling began at 7 am todayYSRCP president 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 raceAndhra Pradesh Congress president and Jagans sister YS Sharmila Kadapa and BJP state chief Purandeswari Rajamahendravaram among others are in Lok Sabha poll frayAccording to a note from the Chief Ministers Office CMO Jagan Mohan Reddy is expected to cast his vote in Bhakarapuram in Pulivendula constituency of Kadapa district on Monday and head back to Tadepalli by 10 amThe YSRCP is contesting in all 175 Assembly seats and 25 Lok Sabha segments in the stateAs part of a seatsharing deal among NDA partners the TDP was allocated 144 Assembly and 17 Lok Sabha constituencies while the BJP is contesting from six Lok Sabha and 10 Assembly seatsThe Janasena is contesting two Lok Sabha and 21 Assembly seatsThe 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 doBesides PM 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 candidatesFor the smooth conduct of the Lok Sabha elections 2024 the Election Commission has deployed 106 lakh security personnel who included 3500 Karnataka police 4500 Tamil Nadu police 1614 exservicemen and 246 retired police personnel among othersThe polling is scheduled from 7 AM to 6 PM in the state barring a few places where it will conclude one or two hours beforeThe total number of voters in the southern state is 414 crore which includes 202 crore male 21 crore female 3421 third gender voters and 68185 service electorsAs many as 454 candidates are in the fray for Lok Sabha and 2387 for Assembly polls according to Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer MK MeenaThe YSRCP won 151 seats TDP 23 and Janasena claimed one in the last Assembly polls while the ruling party emerged victorious in 22 and Chandrababu Naiduled party in three Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 electionsWith inputs from Agencies