Polls today in 5,803 gram panchayats

Polls today in 5,803 gram panchayats
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Elaborate bandobust for first phase of election Arrangements in place for polling Hyderabad: Stage has been set for the first phase polls to...

  • Elaborate bandobust for first phase of election
  • Arrangements in place for polling

Hyderabad: Stage has been set for the first phase polls to gram panchayats in the State. In all, 5,803 gram panchayats will go to polls on Tuesday. Arrangements are in place for smooth conduct of elections, according to the State Election Commission Secretary Naveen Mittal on Monday.

The polling will commence at 7 am and close at 1 pm. The counting of votes will be taken up at 2 pm. Special measures were initiated to enable the voters to exercise their franchise in a free and fair manner in the gram panchayats identified to be trouble prone. Additional forces were deployed in the sensitive pockets.

The State Election Commission had already cancelled the elections in 18 gram panchayats wherein the posts of sarpanches and ward members were reportedly offered to highest bidders by conducting auctions in violation of the election laws for the local bodies. Fresh notification would be issued for conducting polls in such villages.

The polls were postponed to July 31 for 237 gram panchayats in six flood- affected districts following torrential rains as recommended by the Collectors of the respective districts. The Gram Panchayat polls were put off in all the gram panchayats of Bhadrachalam division in Khammam district where a majority of the tribal villages were either marooned or partially inundated.

Security forces were deployed heavily in the villages that are part of the Maoist strongholds in view of the call given by the CPI (Maoist) to boycott the polls. The State Election Commission had ordered video recording of the poll process in such villages. Poll observers have been deputed to all the trouble-prone gram panchayats. In all, 18,721 gram panchayats will go to polls in the State in three phases and the services of 1,08,650 police personnel were drafted for the poll bandobust. Elections were held unanimously in some 2,596 gram panchayats.

electionsOfficials carrying election material to a booth on Monday on the eve of panchayat poll in Adilabad
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