50 per cent voting till 1 p.m in re-poll in 5 booths in AP

: Close to 50 per cent polling was recorded in five polling booths in Andhra Pradesh, till 1 p.m Monday, where a re-poll was being conducted.

Braving the heat wave, voters queued up at the five polling booths and cast their votes in good numbers.

In all 49.64per cent votes were polled in the five polling booths in three districts, Election Commission officials here said.

The re-poll had been ordered in view of technical glitches in the electronic voting machines in these polling booths.

Accordingly, re-polling is being held in polling booth 94 pertaining to Narsaraopet Assembly and Lok Sabha segments, polling booth 244 of Guntur West Assembly and Lok Sabha segments in Guntur district; 247 of Yerragondapalem Assembly and Ongole Lok Sabha segments.

Repolling is also being held in booth 41 of Kovur Assembly segment under Nellore Lok Sabha constituency and 197 of Sullurupeta Assembly segment under Tirupati Parliamentary constituency.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made at each polling booth to prevent untoward incidents, state Chief Electoral Officer Gopal Krishna Dwivedi said.

Elections for 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Assembly seats were held in one go on April 11 in the state.

Counting of votes will be taken up on May 23.