Vijayawada: All set for counting of votes for ZPTC, MPTC elections
Krishna District Collector J Nivas inspects the arrangements made for the counting of votes of ZPTC, MPTCs elections at a voting centre in Ibrahimpatnam mandal in Krishna district on Saturday
Vijayawada: The stage is set for counting of votes for the elections held to 7,220 Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTC) and 515 Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTCs) on Sunday.
The counting will be held at 209 centres across the State on Sunday from 8 a.m. and results will be announced the same day. The EC has appointed 32,264 counting staff and 11,803 counting supervisors in 13 districts of Andhra Pradesh for the counting and declaring the results.
Principal Secretary, Panchayat Raj and Rural department, Gopala Krishna Dwivedi, said training was imparted to the staff for the counting of votes. He further said Covid guidelines would be followed strictly at the 209 counting centres.
He said 18,782 candidates are in the fray for the 7,220 MPTC posts in the State. He informed that 10,047 MPTCs are in the State. Out of which 2,371 candidates were elected unanimously. Due to various reasons the polling process was halted in 375 MPTCs. Among them 81 contestants died. Finally, the polling was held for 7,229 MPTCs and 18,782 candidates were in the fray.
Regarding ZPTCs, polling was held for the 515 ZPTCs and 2,058 candidates are in the fray. A total 126 candidates were elected unanimously. Elections were halted to 11 ZPTCs due to the death of the candidates. Finally, elections were held for 515 ZPTCs.
The elections for the MPTC and ZPTCs were held on April 4, 2021. Due to administrative and legal reasons, the counting of votes was postponed. Recently, the Andhra Pradesh High Court issued orders permitting counting of votes.
Since the ballot papers were used in the elections, the counting may be held till evening at some places and results may be declared by night. District collectors visited the counting centres on Saturday and inspected the arrangements.
Police commissioners and the superintendents of police issued orders to maintain law and order and prevent any untoward incident. Processions and victory rallies will be banned on Sunday. Section 144 will be in force in the vicinity of 100 metres from the counting centres.