Tirupati district gears up for MPTC, ZPTC elections on November 3

Tirupati: District Election Officer and District Collector Dr S Venkateswar has instructed Returning Officers (ROs) and Assistant Returning Officers (AROs) to follow election rules strictly and perform their duties responsibly, transparently and impartially in the MPTC and ZPTC elections under Local Body Elections 2026.

A training programme for ROs and AROs was held in Tirupati on Monday in the presence of Joint Collector R Govinda Rao and District Zilla Parishad CEO TN Sobhan Babu. The notification for the MPTC and ZPTC elections was released on Monday with the nominations to be received from October 21 to 23. The election will be held on November 3.

Addressing the officials, the Collector asked them to read the election rules carefully and understand every provision. He said decisions on receiving, scrutinising and rejecting nomination papers must be taken according to the prescribed rules. Officials were advised to consult higher authorities whenever they had doubts and not to take decisions without proper clarity on the rules.

He also directed the officers to monitor law and order in their respective areas, take preventive measures to avoid untoward incidents and arrange videography of important stages of the election process, including the receipt of nominations.

Joint Collector R Govinda Rao instructed the officials to complete the nomination, scrutiny and withdrawal processes within the prescribed deadlines. He said only the candidate, proposer and one other person should be allowed inside the nomination centre, as per the rules.

Officials must also verify security deposit payments and the voter eligibility of candidates and proposers according to the rules applicable to the respective MPTC and ZPTC constituencies. He advised the officers not to reject nominations for minor spelling or printing errors and to make decisions strictly in accordance with the rules.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Hans India