Vizianagaram: 254 file papers for sarpanch posts on Day-1

Vizianagaram: The filing of nominations for second phase of gram panchayat elections began in district on Tuesday. Polling for 415 sarpanch posts and 3,908 ward member posts to be held on February 13 in four Assembly constituencies under Parvathipuram revenue division. Contestants in Salur, Kurupam, Parvathipuram and Bobbili constituencies(15 mandals) have started filing papers on Tuesday.

On day one, 254 nominations for sarpanch and 375 papers for ward member posts were filed. The district administration made extensive arrangements for the elections. As many as 6,19,834 voters would cast their votes. The district administration has divided all these gram panchayats into 117 clusters and the nominations would be received in Sachivalayams. As many as 147 returning officers, 147 assistant returning officers and 172 micro observers have been appointed and 74 videographers are also being deployed to film the polling process.

Nominations will be received till February 4 and the contestants can withdraw their nominations on February 8. As many as 3,908 polling stations would be set up for the elections and the polling would be held on February 13. Counting and releasing of results also would be done the same day. M Harijawaharlal, collector and district election officer, said that they had been following every guideline issued by the State Election Commission and implementing the norms to conduct the election process in a smooth manner. He said that the administration would not tolerate any violations by model code of conduct by any individual or political party.