Tirupati: Notification for general elections to be released today

Tirupati : District Election Officer Pravin Kumar said that candidates wishing to contest in upcoming elections have to bring 13 types of documents with them while filing their nomination papers. Notification for the general elections will be released on Thursday and the nomination process will begin immediately and concludes on April 25. Nominations will not be received on public holidays. The scrutiny of nominations to be held on April 26 while the last date for the withdrawal will be April 29.

Explaining the guidelines to be followed while submitting nominations, Pravin Kumar said that they can submit their papers from 11 am to 3 pm on notified dates and they will be accepted only if they produce all documents in proper form. Candidates contesting for Lok Sabha constituencies have to submit Form 2A while Assembly candidates need to submit Form 2B. Each candidate can submit a maximum of four sets of nominations and should not file their papers from more than two constituencies.

At the time of filing nomination papers, a maximum of three vehicles will be allowed within 100 meters radius and only five persons including the candidate will be allowed to enter the Returning Officer’s office. A help desk will be set up at all constituencies to facilitate the candidates in filing their nominations. From the time of filing nominations, all expenditure will go into the accounts of the candidates. The DEO made it clear that the advertisements appearing in the media and paid news items will also be counted under the concerned candidate’s account.

Meanwhile, DEO Pravin Kumar said that EPIC cards are being delivered to the voters through the postal department. Any misuse of EPIC cards will attract severe punishment. If the cards are returned by the postal department for any reason, they will be delivered to the voters through the BLOs and there should be no confusion in that.

He further said that during January 6, 2023 to March 30, 2024, a total of 3,37,130 EPIC cards were generated out of which 3,14,710 were printed. Further, a total of 2,65,823 cards were sent to the postal department of which 12,875 were returned. Out of them, as per ECI guidelines 10,439 have been distributed by BLOs and 2,436 cards are yet to be distributed by them. The postal department is yet to deliver 60,868 cards. Everything is going in line with the guidelines and there is no need for any doubts in this process, he clarified.