On the 17th of February, Andhra Pradesh is conducting the third phase of the Grama Panchayat elections.
In the third phase, nearly 55.75 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their right to vote. With this election, the State would get 2,639 sarpanches and 19,553 village ward members.
Meanwhile, of the 3,221 village sarpanch posts in the third phase, 579 are elected unopposed. Similarly, 11,753 of 31,516 ward members were also elected unanimously.
Polling started at 6:30 A.M., and would continue till 3:30 P.M., at 26,851 polling stations of 160 mandals in 13 districts. Of the total 26,851 polling stations, 1,977 stations are arranged at Maoist affected areas, 3,127 in hypersensitive areas and 4,118 in sensitive areas. Of the aforementioned classified areas, in Maoist affected areas, voting would be held till 1:30 P.M.
So far, the State recorded 11.74 % voter turnout in the third phase of the panchayat elections.
The Panchayat Raj and the Rural Development Principal Secretary Gopal Krishna Dwivedi supervised the arrangements of all the polling stations across 13 districts.
Voters would decide the fate of 7,757 candidates who are fighting for 2,639 sarpanch posts.
Mr.Dwivedi said. “All arrangements have been put in place for the third phase of the election. We have kept Personal Protective Equipment, sanitisers, masks, gloves and thermal scanners at all polling stations in line with the Covid-19 protocol.”
In addition, the State Election Commission (SEC) made special arrangements for the Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 afflicted voters.
The counting of votes for the third phase would take place after 4:00 P.M., on the 17th of February.
The Andhra Pradesh four phased Grama Panchayat elections started from the 9th of February and would end on the 21st of February.
The major parties contesting the elections are: the Telugu Desam Party (TDP,) the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP,) the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the JanaSena Party.
Stay tuned for further updates.
