ZPTC, MPTC polls in 3 phases

Hyderabad: The TRS is gearing up for another round of elections as the stage is all set for Mandal and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTC) polls next month. State Election Commissioner V Nagi Reddy on Saturday announced the poll schedule for 5,800-odd MPTC and 583 ZPTC posts.

The upcoming MPTC and ZPTC polls will be the fourth round of elections that have been held in the state within a year's time, after the state witnessed the Assembly polls last December, Panchayat elections this January and Lok Sabha polls this month.

Addressing the media, Reddy said that the elections would be held in three phases. He said the notification for the first phase would be issued on April 22, second phase April 26 and for the third phase on April 30.

Reddy said the nominations would be received for three days from the date of notification. The polling would be held for the first phase on May 6, second phase on May 10, and for the third phase on May 14.

Counting for all the ZPTC and MPTCs would be held on May 27. The Model Code of Conduct has already come into force and would be in force till May 27. He said the elections for Mangapet ZPTC would be held later.

He said about 2,870 Returning Officers have been appointed. The total number of voters would be 1.56 lakhs. As voters were allowed to register their names till April 20, the number may go up slightly.

However, applying for registering a name now would not give them right to vote. The officials would check and register the names in the voter list. Nagi Reddy said that in the first phase, 197 ZPTCs and 2,166 MPTCs would go to polls.

In the second phase, election would be conducted to 180 ZPTCs and 1,913 MPTCs and in the third phase, elections would be held for 161 ZPTC and 1,739 MPTCs. In the first phase, polls would be held in Medchal-Malkajgiri district.

In the second phase, they would be held in Karimnagar, Peddpalli, Mahbubnagar and Warangal Rural districts. Polls would be held to rest of the districts in the third phase.

He said the election would be held through the ballot papers as the same has been carried out in the previous polls.

Though the SEC used the EVMs in municipal elections, the same could not be done in PR polls due to Parliament elections and unavailability of EVMs.