Andhra Pradesh panchayat polls to be held in April

Hyderabad, Mar 10: Elections to the

Raj institutions in

have been announced on Monday and will be held in April.

According to the election programme announced by the State Election Commission here today, polling for the Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTC) and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTC) would take place on April 6.

The elections to the PR institutions are being conducted following a Supreme Court order.

"We have decided to conduct MPTC, ZPTC direct elections and Mandal Praja Parishad (MPP), Zilla Parishad indirect polls in the state," State Election Commissioner P Ramakanth Reddy told reporters. As per the election programme, the election notice would be issued by the Returning Officers on March 17 and nominations can be filed from then.

The nominations can be filed till March 20 and they will be scrutinised on March 21. Appeals against the rejection of nominations can be filed on March 22. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is March 24.

Polling would be held on April 6 and repolling, if necessary, would be held on April 7. Counting of votes would be taken up on April 8 from 8 AM. Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly polls would be held simultaneously on April 30 and May 7 in Andhra Pradesh, whose division is now a mere formality.

Elections to 146 municipalities and 10 municipal corporations across undivided Andhra Pradesh would be held on March 30.

Amid concerns that the multiple elections would put pressure on government machinery and also political parties, Reddy blamed the previous government for allegedly not taking timely decisions over the conduct of local body polls.

PTI