3-phase Panchayat polls from Dec 11

Hyderabad: As expected, the stage is set for Panchayat elections in the state with the State Election Commission (SEC) announcing the much-awaited schedule on Tuesday. Accordingly, elections to the 12,728 Gram Panchayats and 1,12,242 wards in the state will be held in three phases on December 11, 14 and 17.

The Backward Classes are poised to get only 17.08 per cent reservations as 2,176 Gram Panchayats have been reserved for them. Over 1.66 crore voters will be exercising their franchise in these elections. State Election Commissioner (SEC) Rani Kumudini announced that the election would be held in 564 mandals, for 12,728 sarpanches and in 1,12,242 wards. The total number of voters is 1,66,65,186. The election will be held from 7 am to 1 pm and the results will be announced on the same day.

The deputy sarpanch election will be held on the same day.

Replying to a question, the SEC said that NOTA (none of the above) will be there on the ballot paper. She said the State Election Commission had the responsibility to take up the elections. For the administrative convenience, the elections are being taken up in phases. The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) will come into effect immediately. There will be observers in the villages, who will send the reports to the SEC and action would be taken accordingly, said the SEC.

According to her, the notification for the first phase election (to be held on December 11) will be issued on November 27 and the nominations will be accepted from the same day. The last date to file nomination will be November 29. Scrutiny of nominations will be taken up on November 30. Last date for withdrawal of the candidature will be December 3. Date of polling will be December 11. The counting will be held from 2 pm onwards on the same day in all phases. The deputy Sarpanch election will also be held on the same day. If the election for deputy Sarpanch could not be taken on the same day, it will be taken up on the next day.

For the second phase, the notification will be issued on November 30, and the process of filing nominations will start on the same day. The last date for filing nomination is December 2, and the scrutiny will take place on December 3. The last date for withdrawal of nominations will be December 6. Polling will be held on December 14, and the counting will be on the same day.

For the third phase, the notification will be issued on December 3, and the process of filing nominations would start from the same day between 10 am to 5 pm. The last date for filing nominations will be December 5. Scrutiny will be taken up on December 6. The last date for withdrawal of candidature will be on December 9, and the election will be held on December 17.

There will be over one lakh polling stations in over 12,728 Gram Panchayats. Around 4,000 GPs and 35,000 ward offices will be going for polls in each phase. The Commission will come up with a mobile application for registering grievances by the voters. The voters can register their grievances, and the Commission will respond to their grievance within a given time.