Andhra Pradesh 2nd Phase Panchayat Elections 2021: The second phase of the Andhra Pradesh Gram Panchayat Elections which commenced on Saturday registered 64.75 per cent polling at 12:30.

Voting for 2,786 ward members commenced at 6.30 am and will conclude at 3.30 pm while counting of votes will start at 4 pm. Elections will be held to elect 20,817 ward members.

In the second phase, the announcement was made for the election of 33,570 wards in a total of 3,328 panchayats spread over 18 revenue divisions in 167 mandals in 13 districts. Of these, 539 sarpanch positions were declared unanimous.

A total of 7,510 candidates are in the fray for the remaining 2,786 panchayats. At 10:30 a.m., 37.67 percent polling was recorded. State Election Officer Girija Shankar is overseeing the election process through webcasting.

With 12,605 wards declared unanimous, elections will be held for the remaining 20,796 wards where 44,879 candidates are contesting for the wards.

After the declaration of the results, the elections for the deputy sarpanch will be conducted on the same day.

The elections are held using ballot paper and without any political party symbols.

A total of 29,304 polling stations were set up, out of which 5,480 have been identified as sensitive and 4181 as hypersensitive.

All necessary precautions are in place as per COVID-19 protocols amid tight security and PPE kits will be provided to infected voters.

Polling Percentage registered at 12:30 Noon.

♦ Vizianagaram - 71.5 per cent

♦ Visakhapatnam - 64.28 per cent

♦ East Godavari- 60.90 per cent

♦ West Godavari- 63.54 per cent

♦ Krishna - 66.64 per cent

♦ Guntur - 69.08 percent