Prakasam ready for panchayat polls

Ongole: Thedistrict administration has made all arrangements for the gram panchayat elections, said collector and District Election Officer P Raja Babu on Friday.

Speaking at a press meet in the Command Control Centre at Prakasam Bhavan, Raja Babu said that the district has 518 panchayats, but elections will be held in 515. Kondapi is left out as its term is not over. Mangamuru and Surareddypalem are left out because of High Court cases. The 515 panchayats have 5166 wards and 5236 polling stations. The district has 1070902 voters. They include 530738 men, 540138 women and 26 others.

The Collector announced that polling will be held in three phases. The first phase covers 139 panchayats, the second 198 and the third 178. In the first phase, nominations will be taken from November 15 to 17. Polling will be on November 26 from 7:00 am to 1:00 pm. Counting will begin at 2:00 pm the same day.

The government has announced rewards for villages that elect their leaders unanimously. A village with up to 5000 people will get Rs 15 lakh. A village with 5000 to 10000 people will get Rs 25 lakh. Larger villages will get Rs 50 lakh. SP V Harshavardhan Raju said 472 polling stations are sensitive or highly sensitive, and strict security will be provided. The election code of conduct will stay in force till December 4.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Naresh Nandam

Naresh.Nandam[email protected]

Naresh Babu Nandam works as a Special Correspondent at The Hans India and primarily covers the erstwhile Prakasam district. He has a master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication and a bachelor's degree in Law. He has around twenty years of experience in print and broadcast journalism. He is a certified Google News Initiative trainer for fact-checking and online verification. Outside his journalism work, he is an OSINT practitioner and takes part in CTF challenges. He is the author of a spiritual thriller titled 'The Amber Scroll', available on Amazon.in.

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