VIJAYAWADA: The State government is preparing to conduct elections to all the Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) across Andhra Pradesh after a gap of nearly 14 years.
The proposed elections are likely to be held before Sankranthi, providing an opportunity for nearly 65 lakh members of PACS to elect their managing committees.
The government recently directed the Cooperation Department to take up all preparatory activities in advance without waiting for the formal election notification, with a course on updating membership records and identifying eligible voters.
PACS elections were last conducted in the undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2013, before the State bifurcation.
After the elected managing committees completed their tenure, the then government headed by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu extended their term on a couple of occasions.
Following the change of government in 2019, the YSRCP government replaced the elected committees with nominated bodies.
The present NDA-led coalition government has now decided to restore the electoral process.
Krishna District Cooperative Officer Chandra Sekhar Reddy said the department had received instructions to make advance arrangements for the PACS elections, including preparation of electoral rolls.
“Completion of e-KYC is mandatory, and we are working on it. A considerable number of members’ e-KYC details are still pending. We are taking steps to complete the process,” he added.