Several vehicles were set on fire in Pulivendula town, few hours before the municipal elections began on Saturday morning.

The incident happened around midnight near the orchard belonging to Madhusudhan Reddy, where three cars, ten motorcycles and a tractor were fully burnt.

It is not, however, immediately known who could have resorted to the extreme act, the police said. Meanwhile, polling began on a brisk pace in the town in various wards, with voters standing in queue lines right from 7 am.

Cadres belonging to the TDP and YSRCP resorted to pushing and jostling in several wards, causing mild tension. In some wards such as Islampuram, the fighting cadres were chased away by the police.

Cops had to intervene to bring the warring factions under control. The 11th and 12th wards witnessed intense stone pelting by some miscreants, apparently to scare away the voters.

YSRCP workers accused the police of chasing away its voters.