A P Legislative Council elections to be held on March 17

New Delhi, Feb 9 (UNI) The Election Commission has decided to hold elections to Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council on March 17 to help reconstitution of the House after a gap of two decades.

The 90-member Council will have 31 members elected from the State Assembly, 28 to be elected from local authorities and eight each from the Graduates' and Teachers constituencies. Twelve members are to be nominated by state Governor Rameshwar Thakur rpt Governor Rameshwar Thakur.

The EC, however, decided not to hold elections for three Local Authorities seats -- two from Hyderabad and one from Ranga Reddy constituencies, till the strength of their members as well as local bodies in position are 75 per cent or more.

The term of these constituencies are expiring tomorrow. Electors position in Ranga Reddy Local Authorities Constituency was about 63 per cent as on date. Hence the elections could not be held from this constituencies.

The term of members elected at the elections shall be determined after the completion of elections, in accordance with the provisions of Section 156 (1) of the Representation of the People Act 1951.

For the elections from the state Assembly, the notification will be issued on February 28 and last date for nominations will be March 7 and the scrutiny on March 8. Last date for withdrawal will be on March 10.

For Local Authorities and Teachers and Graduates' constituencies, the notification will be issued on February 15 and last date for the nomination will be on February 22. Scrutiny will be on February 23 and last date for withdrawal will be on March 26.

The counting for Assembly elections will be on March 17. For the Local Authorities elections, the counting will be on March 21 and for the Teachers and Graduates' Constituencies, it will be on March 23.

All the elections shall have to be completed by March 26, an EC release said.

UNI