Graduate constituency MLC elections on March 14

Kakinada : District Collector and Returning Officer D Muralidhar Reddy said that polling will be held on March 14 for the East and West Godavari districts Teachers Constituency of Legislative Council.

Along with Joint Collectors Dr G Lakshmisha, G Raja Kumari and SPs Adnan Nayeem Asmi, Shemushi Bajpayee, he convened a meeting with Standing Committee officials and representatives of recognised political parties regarding the MLC elections at Collectorate on Monday.

The Collector said that the notification for the Teachers' MLC constituency elections will be released on February 16. He said that the nominations from the candidates would be accepted from February 16 and the last date of filing of nominations is February 23. The scrutiny of the nominations will be done on February 24. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is February 26. The polling would be held on March 14 from 8 am to 4 pm. The counting of votes would begin from March 17. He said that the model code of conduct concerning these elections will come into force with immediate effect in the East and West Godavari district constituencies. He said that as per the guidelines of the Election Commission, every person should follow the Covid-19 norms like wearing the face mask during the election related activity.

According to the final list published on February 6, there are 9,560 voters in East Godavari and 7,725 in West Godavari district. He said eligible voters, who are still unregistered, can register as voters by February 23. He said 67 polling stations would be set up in East Godavari district and 49 in West Godavari district for the conduct of MLC constituency elections. He said that the Code of Conduct for elections came into force across the East and West Godavari districts from February 11. It was revealed that check-posts were set up with flying and static surveillance teams.

He appealed to the recognised political parties to cooperate for the successful completion of the election process for the Teachers' MLC constituency of both the Godavari districts. The helpdesk will be functioning at Kakinada Collectorate from Monday to supply nomination forms, other information and materials.