The Andhra Pradesh state election commission on Saturday announced the schedule for conducting local body elections in the state, so as to complete the entire process by March 29.
State election commissioner N Ramesh Kumar said the elections would be held in three phases. In the first phase, elections to Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTCs) and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTCs) would be held on March 21 and the results would be declared on March 24.
In the second phase, municipal elections would be held on March 23 and the results would be declared on March 27. In the third phase, elections to gram panchayats would be held on March 27 and 29 and the results would be declared on the same day.
The notification for the MPTC and ZPTC elections would be issued on March 9 and nominations would be received till March 21. And for gram panchayat elections, the notification would be issued on March 17 and nominations would be received till March 19.
The latest schedule has surprised many, because it was only on Friday that the SEC tentatively indicated the schedule for local body elections.
It said the MPTC and ZPTC elections would be held in two phases – on March 21 and 24. Similarly, elections to municipalities would be held on March 27. The results for both the urban and rural local bodies would be declared on March 29, after counting.
However, Ramesh Kumar changed his mind in the last minute and said the actual schedule would be announced on Saturday. And when he did, the entire schedule had undergone a change.
Sources said the sudden changes in the schedule were made only to enable distribution of housing sites to the weaker sections by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government on March 25, which is otherwise not possible because of the model code of conduct by the election commission.
The MPTC/ZPTC elections are held on party basis and hence, their election schedule was changed in such a way that the process is completed by March 24, so that there would be no hurdles for the YSRC government to distribute housing sites on March 25, coinciding with Ugadi festival.
So, that is the reason!
