VIJAYAWADA: The State Election Commission is gearing up to conduct local body polls at the earliest. Holding a review meeting with heads of the departments of municipal, panchayat and other departments on Friday, State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar asked the officials concerned to complete the revision of electoral rolls at the earliest.
He said it was decided to hold local body elections in three phases, starting with elections for village panchayats. There are 13,060 village panchayats in the State. The tenure of the elected bodies for panchayats has already ended. “There is the issue of reservations, which needs to be reviewed in the wake of court directions. As soon as the new government in the State reviews the reservation issues and takes a decision, we will issue election notification,” he said.
Elections to village panchayats will be on a non-political basis and they will be held through ballot system. The finance department has already agreed for the necessary budget which will be routed through Panchayat Raj department, he explained.
Ramesh Kumar said tenure of MPTCs, ZPTCs and several municipal bodies will conclude in July and thereafter elections for them will be held. In the second phase, ZPTC and MPTC elections will be held and in the final phase elections to civic bodies will be held, he said. According to him, EVMs will be used in the second and third phase of the local bodies elections. On the issue of villages merger with municipalities, the State Election Commissioner said the department concerned will take necessary decisions.