District Collector D Muralidhar Reddy holds meet with political parties in Kakinada

Kakinada: District Collector D Muralidhar Reddy has directed the officials concerned to ensure strict implementation of the election code of conduct in poll bound areas. He participated in a meeting with recognized political parties regarding local body elections at the Collectorate here on Tuesday.

Speaking on the occasion, Reddy said that elections would not be held for Rajamahendravaram and Kakinada municipal corporations. Money and liquor should not influence the outcome of the elections. The contesting candidates for MPTC have to pay Rs 3,000 as deposit for general category and Rs 1,500 for ST, SC and BC category. The ZPTC candidates should pay a deposit amount of Rs 6,000 for general category and Rs 3,000 for SC, ST and BC category. The officials will accept the ZPTC and MPTC nominations till 5 pm on March 11. After the polls on March 21 and 23, counting will be held on March 27 and results will be declared on the same day.

The Collector appealed to people to download the Nigha App from Google Play Store. The Nigha app is meant for curbing the use of money and alcohol in the upcoming local body elections. The complaints will be automatically routed to the central control room and the information shared with the officials concerned. The election expenditure permitted for candidates contesting for the ZPTC is Rs 4 lakh and for MPTC Rs 2 lakh. He said that as per the directions of Election Commission election helpline 9346682055, 9346837255 has been set up in Spandana Hall at Collectorate for the local body elections to help people to register their grievances. The election code of conduct has come into force following the announcement of the local body elections and all political parties should adhere to the code, said the Collector.