AP set for bypolls, counting on June 1

Hyderabad: The stage is set, amid tight security arrangements, for the crucial bypolls to 18 assembly and four Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday.
More than 9,000 polling stations have been set up and over 63,000 policemen, including armed reserve police personnel, have been deployed on election duty.
Of the 4,965 villages in the constituencies going to polls, 965 have been identified as hyper-sensitive, 1,683 as sensitive and 1,025 as extremist-affected and inaccessible villages, Director General of Police SSP Yadav said on Wednesday.
Special attention would be given to prevent any law and order problems in troublesome villages, he said.
The byelections are widely seen as a semi-final for the next year's general elections.
The en-masse resignation of the TRS MPs and MLAs in protest against UPA government's failure to carve out separate state necessitated the bypolls.
At stake is the Telangana statehood demand which is the main plank of TRS.
Top leaders including Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao undertook extensive campaigning in the constituencies going to the polls.
While the Chief Minister harped on the development activities initiated by his government, the TRS relied on the strong demand for separate statehood prevailing in the region.
The opposition TDP which is keen to win back the confidence of the electorate went in a populist mode promising several sops.
The counting of votes would be held on June 1.