Tirupati: Collector Pravin Kumar seeks political parties’ cooperation for free, fair polls

Tirupati : Collector and District Election Officer (DEO) Pravin Kumar urged the political parties to cooperate in the conduct of general elections in the district in a free environment, in an impartial and transparent manner and to ensure that voters exercise their right to vote peacefully and freely.

Addressing the representatives of political parties on Saturday, he said that election gazette notification will be released on April 18 while the last date for nominations will be April 25. Scrutiny of nominations will be held on April 26, followed by withdrawal of nominations on April 29. The polling for the general elections will be held on May 13 followed by counting on June 4.

The Collector said that all arrangements are being made regarding the conduct of the elections and the code of conduct for elections is already in force. Election related teams like static surveillance, flying squad and others were formed and are working as per the guidelines of the Election Commission of India. The DEO said that the second round of an awareness programme for the representatives of political parties on the nomination process will be organised soon.

Reminding that political parties have been given training on nominations, campaigning, polling, counting, election apps and other election process in the past, Pravin Kumar said that those who apply on Suvidha app are being given permissions within the specified time as per the guidelines of the ECI and if there is any objection it can be clarified with the relevant authorities.

The DEO added that those completed 18 years of age by April 1, can enrol their names as voters for which the last date is on April 14. The final electoral rolls will be published on April 25.

Joint Collector HM Dhayana Chandra, Commissioner Adithi Singh, DRO Penchala Kishore, EROs Nishanth Reddy, Chandramuni, Narasimhulu, other officials and political parties’ representatives took part in the meeting.