Andhra Pradesh announces schedule for pending municipal elections

Amaravati: Polling for elections to 23 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in Andhra Pradesh will be held on November 26, the State Election Commission (SEC) announced on Thursday.

The poll panel issued a notification for elections to four Municipal Corporations and 19 Municipalities/Nagar Panchayats.

Elections to 100 ULBs were held on November 1, and their results have also been declared.

Elections to the remaining 23 ULBs could not be conducted due to court cases.

State Election Commissioner Anil Chandra Punetha said polling for the posts of Mayors and Chairpersons, as well as Corporators and Ward Members of the ULBs, would be held on November 26.

Re-polling, if any, will be conducted on November 27, while counting of votes will also take place on the same day.

Elections will be held for the posts of Mayors and Corporators in Srikakulam, Kakinada, Rajamahendravaram and Mangalagiri-Tadepalli Municipal Corporations, and for Chairpersons and Ward Members in 19 Municipalities/Nagar Panchayats.

The ULBs have a total of 1,009 wards, including 269 in the four Municipal Corporations.

He said November 16 would be the last date for receiving nominations, while scrutiny would be taken up the following day. November 19 would be the last date for withdrawal of nominations.

These ULBs have a total of 24,98,152 voters. Polling will be conducted at 2,801 polling centres.

The SEC directed District Collectors and Superintendents of Police to work in coordination to ensure that the local body elections across the State were conducted peacefully and transparently, without any untoward incidents.

He emphasised that the utmost priority must be given to maintaining law and order, ensuring adequate police deployment and implementing comprehensive security arrangements.

Speaking during a video conference, Punetha noted that violent incidents had occurred in certain sensitive districts during local body elections in the past. He highlighted that, following interventions by the Supreme Court and the implementation of stringent security measures, there had been a significant improvement in the conduct of these elections.

He further acknowledged that the recent MPTC and ZPTC elections, as well as the elections to Urban Local Bodies, had been successfully conducted through the collective efforts of the administrative and police machinery.

The election process for the MPTC and ZPTC elections, as well as the first phase of elections to 100 ULBs, has already been completed. The subsequent elections for MPP Presidents will be held on November 19, and those for ZPP Chairpersons on November 20.

Punetha also announced that Gram Panchayat elections in the State would be held in three phases. Notifications for the first, second and third phases will be issued on November 13, November 16 and November 19, respectively.