Telangana Local Body Polls Dates Announced
The entire election process would be conducted in five phases commencing from October 9: SEC
Hyderabad: The State Election Commission (SEC) on Monday announced the schedule for local body elections in 31 districts, excluding the urban districts of Hyderabad and Medchal. Elections to the Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTC) and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTC) will be held on the party basis in two phases on October 23 and 27. Gram panchayat polls, which are non-party based, will follow in three phases on October 31, November 4 and November 8.
Counting of votes for each panchayat phase will be taken up on the same day, while the final results for all polls will be declared on November 8. Upa sarpanches will also be elected on the day of counting. Polling will be conducted using ballot papers and ballot boxes.
The model code of conduct came into effect from Monday, with the announcement of the schedule. The election notification will be issued on October 9, a day after the Telangana High Court resumes hearing on the petitions challenging the Constitutional validity of increasing the Backward Classes (BC) quota to 42 per cent, which exceeds the Supreme Court’s 50 per cent cap.
State Election Commissioner I. Rani Kumudini said the elections will cover 1,67,03,168 voters, including 81,65,894 men, 85,36,770 women and 504 persons from the third gender. Notifications for 565 ZPTC and 5,749 MPTC posts will be released on October 9, and nominations will be accepted from October 13. Ballot boxes have been sourced from Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. Reservations for panchayats, MPTCs, ZPTCs and ZP chairpersons were finalised as per state government orders.
When asked about instances where the reserved category seats did not match the local population, officials clarified that the allocations were made on a rotational basis after factoring in the enhanced BC quota.
Rani Kumudini, accompanied by Director General of Police Jitender, said the police would oversee the implementation of the model code in all 31 districts. Before the schedule was announced, the SEC held meetings with the police and finance departments to review arrangements related to polling stations, force deployment and law-and-order preparedness.
Key Dates
• HC to resume hearing on 42% quota case – Oct. 8
• Election notification – Oct. 9
• Mandal & Zilla Parishad polls – Oct. 23 and 27
• Gram panchayat polls – Oct. 31, Nov. 4, Nov. 8
• Counting – Same day for each phase
• Final results – Nov. 8
• Model code of conduct – In force from Sept. 29
Electorate
• Total – 1,67,03,168
• Men – 81,65,894
• Women – 85,36,770
• Third gender – 504
Big Figures
• Total districts – 33
• Districts going to polls – 31
• Mandals – 565
• ZPTCs – 565
• MPTCs – 5,749
• Gram panchayats – 12,733
• Wards – 1,12,288
• Polling stations – 1,12,474
