Andhra gram panchayat elections concludes with 81.78 pc voting in fourth phase

The polling for the gram panchayat elections in Andhra Pradesh concluded on Sunday with 81.78 per cent polling in the fourth phase, officials said.

According to the officials, the election was held for 2,743 sarpanch posts and 22,421 ward member posts in the fourth phase.

"In all 4 phases, elections were notified for 13,097 sarpanch posts and 2,197 of them become unmous, no nominations for 10 posts, and elections were held for 10,890 sarpanch posts," an official statement of State Election Commission (SEC) said.

Further, elections were notified for 13,1,023 ward member posts and 47,459 of them became unmous, no nominations for 670 posts, and elections were held for 82,894 ward member posts.

Elections were held in four phases on February 9, 13, 17 and 21. The polling percentages in all these phases are 81.67 per cent, 81.67 per cent, 80.71 per cent and 81.78 per cent respectively.

Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Principal Secretary Gopal Krishna Dwivedi congratulated everyone involved in the conduct of elections.

"Today on successful completion of Gram Panchayat Elections in A.P. I would like to Congratulate everyone involved in conduct of Elections - including polling booth level (village level) officers, District Collectors and their teams and CPR and his team of officers at State level," he tweeted.

Now, the counting of votes is going on for the fourth phase. Meanwhile, State Election Commission (SEC) has issued a revised election notification for 12 municipal corporations and 75 municipalities/nagar panchayats. Polling for them will be held on March 10, 2021. These elections were stopped midway on March 15, 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Elections for Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC) and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) were also stopped midway due to the corona pandemic. The SEC is likely to announce a new notification soon.

( With inputs from ANI )