After a gap of nearly 11 months, Andhra Pradesh is going to witness an election atmosphere in the state, with the state election commission announcing the schedule of polls to the rural and urban local bodies within 15 days.
According to the schedule, the elections to mandal parishad territorial constituencies (MPTCs) and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTCs) 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. The polling would be held through ballot papers, instead of electronic voting machines.
In all, elections to 13 Zilla Parishads and 660 mandal parishads would be held. The reservations for these rural local bodies, based on the Supreme Court guidelines, had already been fixed by the state election commission through a separate order.
The YSRC government has already promulgated an ordinance to complete the election process within 15 days, so that the Central funds to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore are not lost.
The government has also decided that the budget sessions of the state assembly would be held only after the completion of local body elections.
Meanwhile, the TDP is still desperately trying to get the elections postponed.
The party, which already filed a petition in the Supreme Court demanding restoration of 34 per cent reservations to the OBCs, wrote to the chief minister to defer the elections till the Supreme Court gives its verdict on the reservations.
