Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad, April 10: As the byelections in the Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula Assembly constituencies were conducted in a free and fair manner, the Election Commission of India has decided against holding re-polling in the two segments except in one polling booth in Bellam Mandi in Kadapa town where the EVM failed to function.

Chief electoral officer Bhanwar Lal told reporters here on Monday that ECI has received 139 representations from the Congress, Telugu Desam and others seeking re-poll alleging large-scale rigging by the YSR Congress.

Hyderabad, May 10: Four students from Andhra Pradesh were killed and one was injured in a car crash in the US, according to information reaching their families here Monday.

The students, doing their post-graduation in engineering, were returning from Illinois to St Louis Saturday night.

The accident occurred when a car collided with their vehicle on the highway near St. Louis in Missouri.

The dead have been identified as Velumula Srujan Reddy of Karimnagar, Chitturi Sriharsha of Visakhapatnam, and Ravi Srikanth and G. Dheeraj of Hyderabad.

Hyderabad, May 10: Repolling in number 108 polling station in Bellamandi due to technical error in the Electronic Voting Machin with 905 voters in Kadapa town will be held on May 11 and the plea for the Telugu Desam Party and the Congress to hold repoll in 139 stations for alleged rigging would be decided by the ECI, according to Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwar Lal.

Mr Bhanwar Lal told media persons at the Secretariat that the repoll will be held at JMJ Junior College for girls, Kadapa.

Hyderabad, April 09: Written by Sa’adat Hasan Manto and originally published in 1947, Siyaah Haashiye is a collection of short stories of the turmoil, agony and anguish associated with the woes of partition of India.

60 years later people still shudder at the thought of the bloodshed and the massacre, the memories still fresh in their minds, but everything else remains just the same, we still continue with our struggles both within and without.

The year 1947 was the year of the great divide, the partition of nations, of people, of homes and of hearts.

Hyderabad, April 09: Ayurveda, due to its natural, effective and permanent cures for chronic diseases, has gained popularity all over the world in the last two decades.

In spite of all this popularity, the real meaning of Ayurveda is still not very well understood.

I travel around the world to teach original Ayurveda and come across people who have many misconceptions about it.

Most people think Ayurveda is an oil massage or some kind of cleansing program, while others think it is a system that involves a natural spa, beauty and rejuvenation treatments.

Kadapa, April 09: The bypolls for the Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula Assembly constituencies ended peacefully on Sunday.

Approximately 75 per cent of the 13.29 lakh voters in the Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency and 81 per cent of the 1.89 lakh in Pulivendula Assembly segment exercised their franchise in the keenly-contested bypolls.

The final poll percentage is likely to increase by 2-3 per cent. Women turned up in large numbers than men in a fitting celebration of the International Mother’s Day.

Hyderabad, April 09: Having conducted the electioneering with all its force, the Congress now says that the Kadapa by-election result would not show any political impact on other districts.

“Kadapa is different from other districts. Hence, the results here will not have any impact on future elections,” its leaders claim.

According to government chief whip M Bhatti Vikramarka, the election results cannot be taken into consideration to assess the political parties performances in future elections.

Hyderabad, April 09: After a lull, the Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) is all set to unveil a new action programme to ensure that the momentum of the T agitation is not lost.

Among the proposals under the consideration of the TJAC, which will meet soon, is the social boycott of all elected representatives who have not yet resigned in demonstration of their support for the Telangana cause.

Hyderabad, April 09: Had the police failed to react swiftly to the kidnap and killing of Madhavi, who was stoned to death and later set ablaze by her own family members for honour?

A delegation of Communist Party of India (CPI) secretary K Narayana and AP Mahila Samakhya on Sunday visited the village and found that the district police failed to react immediately to the kidnap of the girl which allegedly led to the killing.

Hyderabad, April 09: About 70 percent of the electors cast their votes in the Kadapa Lok Sabha and 81 percent in the Pulivendula assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh Sunday. Barring minor incidents, voting was peaceful, officials said.

Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency recorded 69.5 percent turnout while it was 81 percent in Pulivendula, one of the seven assembly segments of the Kadapa parliamentary constituency.

Hyderabad, April 09: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) rebel MLA Nagam Janardhan Reddy made all arrangements for his ‘Telangana Nagaara’ public meeting to be held in Nagarkurnool, his Assembly segment, on Monday.

It is not clear whether Nagam would launch his own party or join in any other party for the cause of Telangana.

Nagam is organising the meeting without TDP flags and invited leaders of all the parties to attend the meet.

Nalgonda, April 09: Negligence on the part of Yadagirigutta temple management and state government has doubled the construction cost of second ghat road at the temple.

Devotees have been facing a problem in reaching the temple since long due to congestion on the first ghat road.

Taking cognizance of the issue, about two and half years ago, the Devasthanam sought permission from the commissioner of endowments, Hyderabad, for the construction of a 2.4-km long ghat road at an estimated expenditure of Rs 11.6 crore.

Vijayawada, April 09: The number of unauthorised mineral water plants is increasing in the city due to lack of proper machinery to keep a vigil on spurious units.

Following the outbreak of diarrhoea in several parts of the city due to contamination of drinking water, the Public Health officials of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation have intensified raids on unauthorised mineral water plants.

According to an estimate, there are more than 100 unauthorised mineral water plants in and around the city. About 20 plants are located in the city limits.

Nellore, April 09: A woman M Maheswari (35), wife of Venkateswara Reddy, and resident of Kisan Nagar area of Nellore city, died of food poisoning on Sunday in Secunderabad.

She was returning home after a pilgrimage to Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, along with 70 others from Nellore and Kadapa districts.

According to family sources, Maheswari went to Varanasi on April 27 along with the group.

The group was returning by train to Secunderabad to go on to Nellore from there.

Hyderabad, April 09: The mercury touched 44 degrees Celsius at Rentachintala in Guntur district on Sunday, the highest in the state for the second consecutive day.

It was another hot day for most people in the Guntur district of coastal Andhra, as day temperatures peaked at many places.

Meanwhile, temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius were reported from Bapatla, Ongole, Tirupati, Nizamabad and Vijayawada. Hyderabad also had a hot day, recording 40.9 degrees Celsius.

Guntur, April 09: People are expressing concern over the rampant spread of viral hepatitis in the city.

Many cases of Hepatitis A and E were reported in several areas of the city and were on the rise.

According to information, viral hepatitis, which caused by a few specific viruses that primarily attack the liver, is on the rise in the city.

Over 150 diagnostic centres were present in Kothapet area are getting nearly 100 cases on a daily basis.

Sangareddy, April 09: Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K Chandrasekhar Rao criticised the state government for failing to conduct ‘Manjeera Pushkaralu’ officially even while governments of other states like Karnataka and Maharashtra are doing it by providing special bus facilities and other amenities to pilgrims on the river bank.

Hyderabad, April 09: The State Election Commission (SEC) has ordered for publication of ward-wise electoral rolls for conduct of the fourth ordinary elections to 10 municipal corporations, 85 municipalities and Nagar Panchayats on May 16.

The latest Assembly electoral rolls, published on January 5 by the Election Commission of India, will be re-arranged ward-wise in respect of all urban local bodies.

As per statute, the Assembly electoral rolls have to be adopted for all elections to urban local bodies.

Hyderabad, April 09: Telugu Desam leaders exude confidence that their party might spring a surprise by winning the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat or, in a worse case, retain its number-two position.

Anyhow, the Congress will be the biggest loser, they assert while expressing satisfaction over Sunday’s polling.

A top TDP leader told Express that they could not dismiss chances of TDP candidate MV Mysoora Reddy defeating YSR Congress’ YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Proddatur, April 09: The people of Pulivendula might never have imagined that one day they would see the families of YS Rajasekhara Reddy and his brother Vivekananda Reddy not stand the presence of each other.

They were, therefore, shocked to see the members of the two families gather at the same place on Sunday to cast vote but ignore each other.

Jaganmohan Reddy, his mother, sister and wife went to the YSR Ghat in Idupulapaya Estate and offered prayers before going to the polling station at Bhakarapuram in Pulivendula town.

Hyderabad, April 09: The BJP national leadership predicts new political developments at the national and state level after May 13 that may even lead to mid-term elections in the country and as such has decided to prepare itself for any eventuality.

Announcing this at a press meet here on Sunday, party national secretary Dr K Laxman said the Congress-led UPA government would find it difficult to overcome the deepening crisis over the corruption issues.

Kadapa, April 09: Police fired in the air to disperse the supporters of YSR Congress at Siddareddygaripalle in Chakarayapeta mandal in the Pulivendula Assembly constituency following the arrest of their leader YS Konda Reddy on Sunday.

Police took Konda Reddy into custody when he was moving suspiciously moving at a polling station.

His arrest irked YSR Congress activists who mounted pressure on the police for his release which the police were forced to do.

Kadapa, April 09: Minister and Congress candidate from the Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency has accused the government machinery and the Election Commission of colluding with YSR Congress party president YS Jaganmohan Reddy. He alleged that the polling staff did not abide by the rules and showed preferential treatment to the YSR Congress.

Pulavendulu(KADAPA), April 09: For years people in several villages in seven mandals in the Pulivendula constituency, which were categorisied as sensitive, hypersensitive and problematic by the Election Commission, had never visited polling stations in large numbers, yet the polling percentage at those polling centres was always high.

In 2009, in a majority of them, the polling percentage crossed 75 pc and in some cases it was near-100 percent. Naturally, the high percentage of voting was attributed to rigging.

Hyderabad, April 09: The Pulivendula Assembly constituency, where YSR’s widow Vijayamma and brother YS Vivekananda Reddy were locked in a firece fight, polled a whopping 81 per cent of votes on Sunday.

The polling percentage in the Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency came down from 75.6 in 2009 to 69.5 now.

Though it was expected that the polling in Pulivendula would be heavy, no one had thought that it would be so heavy.