Filing of nominations for 234 panchayats in Vijayawada begins today

Vijayawada: The State Election Commission has made necessary arrangements for the successful and peaceful conduct of panchayat elections in Vijayawada revenue division.

Nominations will be received from Friday onwards for the 234 panchayats it will continue till January 31.

The officials will receive the nominations from 10.30 am to 5 pm for which instructions were issued by the District Collector Md Imtiaz. Training class for the stage-1 officers and MPDOs were conducted at the State irrigation office.

Collector Md Imtiaz, Joint Collectors K Madhavi Latha, L Siva Sankar and K Mohana Rao and other officials attended the three-hour training session. Addressing the officials, the Collector said the State Election Commission has issued clear instruction on the conducting of elections and Code of conduct. He said the schedule for filing of nominations, scrutiny and withdrawals already released.

The scrutiny of nominations will be on February 1 from 8 am onwards. Appeal against rejection of nomination before appellate authority is February 2 up to 5 pm. Disposal of appeals by appellate authority is February 3 and the last day for the withdrawal of the candidates is February 4, 2021.

Collector said that the candidates can meet the appellate authority to address their grievances. The final list of contesting candidates will be published on February 4. He informed that polling will be held on February 9 from 6.30 am to 3.30 pm and counting of votes will start at 4pm. The collector said the State Election Commission will take action as per the norms against the officials, who will be absent for the training classes. He suggested the officials to be careful while issuing the caste, income and residential certificates. He said the contesting candidates must pay deposits as per the norms.

He informed that SC,ST and BC candidates contesting for the sarpanch post must deposit Rs3,000 and for the ward members post Rs500. He said other castes candidates contesting the polls must pay Rs3,000 for sarpanch posts and Rs1,000 for ward member posts. In-charge sub-collector K Rajyalakshmi, district panchayat officer I Saibaba, divisional panchayat officer KB Chandrasekhar, tahsildars, mandal development officers Revenue Inspectors and VROs attended the training session.