149 candidates in fray for 57 MPTC, ZPTC seats

Vikarabad: Following withdrawal of nominations, as many as 149 contestants are in the fray for the last phase of elections to be held on 10th of this month in the district.

Some of the candidates who filed nominations from April 26 to 28 withdrew on Thursday. At last, 149 candidates remained in the contest. Among them, 16 candidates are contesting for four ZPTC seats while 133 are competing for 53 MPTC seats.

Venkataiah who filed nomination on behalf of the Congress party for MPTC seat at Nagasamunder withdrew his papers. Hence, there is no Congress contestant for this post, which means Congress fielded 52 candidates for 53 seats, while TRS is fielding their candidates in all seats. BJP and independent are contesting in 16 places.

Another 16 candidates are contesting for four ZPTC seats, among them are four from each congress and TRS, BJP and TDP. Sathi Bheemamma filed nomination from Congress party for Yalal ZPTC seat, where party's ZP Chairperson candidate Sunitha's nomination was rejected.

Last time candidates from TDP won MPTC, ZPTC seats in Tandur, Yalal, Peddemul, Basheerebad mandals. But this time, TDP is contesting only in three mandals Peddemul, Bahseerabad, Yalal. No contestant from the party is in Tandur mandal. Even CPI, CPM, BLF are also not in the contest.

Campaign kicks off After withdrawal of nominations, the names of contestant were finalised. They immediately started campaign right from the evening of Thursday. They conducted meetings with party leaders and toured in villages.

Officials allotted symbols for the candidates who were in the contest. They displayed these details at Mandal Parishad Offices. Mandal Parishad staff is busy in arranging election equipment for all polling centres. In Assembly and Panchayat elections, four persons were allotted for each polling station while this time six persons are allotted for every polling station.