1st phase ZPTC polls today

Hyderabad: Stage is set for the first phase of parishad polls for 195 ZPTC and 2,097 MPTC seats to be held on Monday.

The State Election Commission has dispatched the poll staff and the security personnel to about 10,000 polling stations.

The polling would be held between 7 am and 5 am. However, polling in 217 Territorial Constituencies of the five districts which are affected by the Maoists would be held from 7 am to 4 pm.

In the first phase, 875 candidates are in the fray for the 195 ZPTC seats and 7,017 are for 2,097 MPTC seats. In the first phase, 2 ZPTCs and 69 MPTCs were elected unanimously.

The SEC said elections would be held on party symbols and ballot papers would be used for all 538 Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies and 5,817 Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies.

The Congress, Telangana Rashtra Samithi, Bharatiya Janata Party, Telugu Desam, CPI and CPM are in the contest.

On an average, three candidates are contesting for each MPTC and four for the ZPTC seats.

About 34,000 police personnel have been deployed to ensure fair and peaceful elections.

In the first phase about 50 lakh rural voters would elect MPTC and ZPTC candidates. The counting for the first phase and for the rest of the two phases would be held on May 27.

The leaders of the political parties are expecting a heavy turnout of the voters on Monday as the elections belong to the local leaders. The candidates and their followers would move maximum number of voters to the polling stations.