Polling underway in 2,723 gram panchayats in Andhra Pradesh

The elections are being held in four phases. The second phase of polling will be held on February 13, the third phase of polling on February 17 and the last phase of polling will be conducted on February 21.

Voting for the first phase of gram panchayat elections in Andhra Pradesh to elect 20,157 ward members is underway on Tuesday. As many as 2,723 panchayats in the state are in the fray in the first phase. Voting began at 6.30am and will conclude at 3.30pm. The counting of votes will begin at 4pm.

The counting of votes will be done immediately after the completion of polling in the afternoon. (PTI)

Here’s everything you need to know about the gram panchayat elections in Andhra Pradesh:

1. The elections are being held in four phases. The second phase of polling will be held on February 13, the third phase of polling on February 17 and the last phase of polling will be conducted on February 21. The counting of votes will be done immediately after the completion of polling in the afternoon.

2. There are 7,506 candidates in the fray for the sarpanch posts and 43,601 are fighting the elections for ward members. Voters will cast their vote using ballot paper and the elections will be held without using political party symbols.

3. Authorities have set up 29,732 polling stations for conducting the polling smoothly, out of which 3,458 have been identified as sensitive and 3,594 as hypersensitive. "Special monitoring with senior officials will be arranged in the sensitive villages. Civil Force, special force and women police will be deployed for the security measures in the first phase of polling, which will be held in the Vijayawada sub-division. We have taken tight security measures for conducting free and fair elections," Krishna district's superintendent of police (SP) Ravindranath Babu said.

4. Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, all the necessary precautions during the polling process. Strict Covid-19 protocol includes sanitization of the polling areas, use of hand sanitizers for voters and polling officials and proper social distancing. Voters infected by Covid-19 are also allowed to vote in the elections and PPE kits will be provided to them for the same.

5. YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led Andhra Pradesh government has consistently opposed the conducting of the polls and said that the time is not conducive for the exercise because of the coronavirus pandemic.

6. Authorities have already declared 452 panchayats unanimous and polling will not be held in these panchayats.