Poll fever has gripped Visakhapatnam ahead of the second general elections to the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC), with the nomination process set to begin on Friday and political activity gathering momentum across the city.

While some candidates and their supporters have begun campaigning in several wards, the major political parties are yet to announce their nominees, with discussions still continuing over the choices.

The suspense over the corporator candidates of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) continued till late Thursday night, with senior leaders engaged in consultations with their respective party high commands.

Even before the formal filing of nominations, several former corporators and prospective candidates have begun mobilising support in their respective wards. Streets in different parts of the city witnessed gatherings of supporters, campaign speeches and other political activities.

Amid the intensifying political activity, the district administration has stepped up preparations to ensure that the GVMC elections are conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner.

District Collector and District Election Officer M. Abhisikth Kishore has directed officials of all departments to work in close coordination and strictly follow the State Election Commission’s rules and guidelines. Warning of stringent action against negligence, he said that officials should discharge their assigned responsibilities efficiently without taking decisions that deviated from the prescribed procedures.

The Collector reviewed the election preparedness, security arrangements, expenditure monitoring, polling and counting processes at a meeting held at the Collectorate on Thursday. Police Commissioner Shankhabrata Bagchi, GVMC Commissioner Ketan Garg, Joint Collector G. Vidyadhari and other officials attended the meeting.

Mr. Kishore said that 1,990 polling stations would be set up at 778 locations across the GVMC’s 120 wards. A total of 18,37,901 voters were expected to exercise their franchise.

He directed the officials concerned to complete the provision of basic amenities at all polling stations by Sunday. The Collector instructed the authorities to complete the training of polling personnel and micro-observers, besides ensuring that the postal ballot process was conducted strictly in accordance with the guidelines. He also stressed the need for proper handling, transportation and safe custody of ballot boxes, ballot papers and other election material.

Mr. Shankhabrata Bagchi said that 6,548 police personnel would be deployed for election security. Special arrangements would be made at hyper-sensitive, sensitive and critical polling stations, while problem-prone areas would be kept under continuous surveillance.

The Collector directed flying squads, static surveillance teams and other monitoring units to conduct regular inspections and take prompt action against violations of the Model Code of Conduct.

Mr. Ketan Garg said that for election management, the GVMC had constituted 201 routes, appointed 239 route officers and 67 sectoral officers. It formed 11 Model Code of Conduct teams, 11 flying squads and 20 surveillance teams. Another 21 teams had been constituted to monitor election expenditure.