Voters wait in queue to exercise their franchise at a polling booth in Peda Jalaripeta, in the East Assembly Constituency during the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) elections in Visakhapatnam | Photo Credit: V RAJU The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) elections held on November 1 recorded a final voter turnout of 56.32%, lower than the 59.41% registered in the previous civic elections in 2021.The final percentage was announced by the authorities on Monday, after completing the tabulation of polling figures received from the Zonal Commissioners and Returning Officers.Of the 18,37,901 registered voters across the 10 zones, as many as 10,35,154 exercised their franchise.Women outnumbered men among those who voted. As many as 5,35,880 women cast their votes, compared with 4,99,241 men.
According to the gender-wise statistics, women’s participation stood at 57.56%, against approximately 55% among men.Among the 10 zones, Bheemunipatnam recorded the highest turnout at 66.27%, followed by Anakapalli at 65.60%. Aganampudi recorded 62.08%, while Gajuwaka, which has the highest voter population registered 60.90%.
West Zone recorded 58.97%, while Pendurthi and Madhurawada registered 55.12% and 55.07%, respectively.The North Zone recorded the lowest turnout at 49.71% among all zones, followed by the East Zone at 54.21%. The South Zone was the other low-performing zone, with a turnout of 52.61%.The difference between Bheemunipatnam, the highest-performing zone, and North Zone, the lowest, was 16.56 percentage points, which highlights a considerable variation in voter participation across the corporation.
The difference also points to the urban and rural participation in voting.The relatively poor turnout appears to reflect a lack of enthusiasm among urban voters especially in the core city. Some of the city’s well-established and prominent residential neighbourhoods including MVP Colony, China Waltair, Ushodaya, Lawsons Bay, Isukathota in the East Zone, and Seethammadhara, KRM Colony, Balayya Sastry Layout, TPT Colony etc in the North Zone, recorded low polling percentages.The trend is significant as these localities account for a substantial urban electorate, including professionals, government employees and private-sector workers.
Several representatives during their post-poll review said that voters slips were not issued properly in some wards.Polling day witnessed a slow start, with only around 3% of the electorate exercising their franchise during the first two hours after polling commenced at 7 a.m.The percentage gradually increased to 13% by 11 a.m. and 27% by 1 p.m. However, even by 3 p.m., the turnout remained between 36% and 37%, placing Visakhapatnam, the largest municipal corporations in the State with the lowest polling percentages.
The situation, however, improved during the final hours, with the turnout percentage reaching nearly 48% by around 4.30 p.m.A noticeable increase in the number of voters arriving at polling stations was reported after 3 p.m. Several elderly people, senior cituzens, IT professionals and employees working in private organisations, particularly those residing in apartment complexes, were learnt to have turned up during the latter part of the day.The late surge helped the corporation cross the 50% mark, with the preliminary figures released by the authorities on Sunday night indicating a turnout of nearly 52%.
The final tabulation subsequently revised the figure to 56.32%. Published - November 02, 2026 08:58 pm IST