Telangana State Election Commission announces five-phase schedule for rural local body polls

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Election Commission on Monday announced a five-phased schedule for elections to the rural local bodies.

The Model Code of Conduct came into force with the announcement.

State Election Commissioner Rani Kumudini told reporters that the polls would be first held for Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC) and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) seats, followed by Gram Panchayats.

The elections to the MPTCs and ZPTCS would be held in two phases. The election notice for the first phase would be issued on October 9 and nominations can be filed from the same day.

Polling for the first phase would be held on October 23.

The notification for the second phase of polls to MPTCs and ZPTCs would be issued on October 13 and polling would be held on October 27.

The elections to the Gram Panchayats would be held in three phases. The election notice for the first phase would be released on October 17 with polling scheduled to take place on October 31. Counting would be taken up on the same day.

The process of filing nominations for the second phase begins on October 21 with polling and counting of votes scheduled to be held on November 4.

The third phase of Gram Panchayat elections begins on October 25. Polling and counting of votes would be taken up on November 8.

The counting of votes for MPTC and ZPTC seats would be taken up on November 11.

The elections would be held for 12,733 Gram Panchayats, 5,749 Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTC) and 565 Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTCS), she said.

The total number of voters is 1,67,03,168, including 81,65,894 (male), 85,36,770 (female) and 504 (others).