Amravati. Voting for the elections to 23 urban local bodies (ULBs) in Andhra Pradesh will be held on November 26, the State Election Commission announced on Thursday. The Election Commission has issued notifications for elections to four municipal corporations and 19 municipalities/nagar panchayats. Elections for 100 urban local bodies (ULBs) were held on November 1 and their results have also been declared.
Due to court cases, elections for the remaining 23 urban local bodies could not be conducted. State Election Commissioner Anil Chandra Punetha said that voting for the posts of mayor, president, councilors and ward members in urban local bodies will be held on November 26.
If there is a need for re-polling, it will be conducted on November 27, and counting of votes will also take place on the same day. Elections will be held for mayors and councilors of Srikakulam, Kakinada, Rajamahendravaram and Mangalagiri-Tadepalli municipal corporations and for chairpersons and ward members of 19 municipalities/town panchayats.
There are a total of 1,009 wards in these urban local bodies, of which 269 wards come under four municipal corporations. He said that the last date for filing nominations is November 16, and scrutiny of nomination papers will be done the next day. The last date for withdrawal of nomination is November 19.
There are a total of 24,98,152 voters in these urban local bodies. Voting will be conducted at a total of 2,801 polling stations. The State Election Commissioner has directed the District Collectors and Superintendents of Police to work in coordination, so that the local body elections are conducted in a peaceful and transparent manner across the State and no untoward incident occurs.
He stressed that top priority should be given to maintaining law and order, ensuring strong police deployment and implementing comprehensive security arrangements.
Commissioner Anil Chandra Punetha, speaking during a video conference, said that in the past there had been violent incidents in some sensitive districts during local body elections. He said that after the intervention of the Supreme Court and implementation of stringent security measures, there has been a lot of positive change in the way these elections are conducted.
He also acknowledged that the recently held MPTC and ZPTC elections, as well as the Urban Local Bodies (ULB) elections, were successfully conducted with the collective efforts of the administration and the police machinery. It was informed that the process of MPTC and ZPTC elections, as well as the first phase of elections for 100 urban local bodies (ULBs) has already been completed. It was announced that elections for MPP chairpersons would be held on 19 November and elections for JPP chairpersons would be held on 20 November.
The commissioner announced that gram panchayat elections in the state will be held in three phases. Notifications for Phase I, II and III will be released on November 13, November 16 and November 19 respectively.