VIJAYAWADA: The State Election Commission on Friday issued notification for the first phase polling of gram panchayats which will be held in three phases.
The rural local body elections will cover 13,167 Sarpanch posts and 1,32,514 ward member positions, with 2.61 crore voters set to exercise their franchise.
Polling will be conducted on November 26, 29 and December 2, while notifications for the second and third phases will be issued on November 16 and 19, respectively.
According to the election statistics released by the Commission, the total electorate stands at 2,61,52,377, comprising 1,28,76,887 male voters, 1,32,74,208 female voters and 1,282 voters belonging to the other category.
In the first phase, elections will be held for 3,967 Sarpanch posts and 40,012 ward member posts. The second phase will cover 4,960 Sarpanch posts and 49,224 ward member posts, while the third phase will involve 4,240 Sarpanch posts and 42,626 ward member posts.
The nomination process for the first phase will begin on November 15 and continue until November 17. Scrutiny of nominations will take place on November 18, while the last date for withdrawal is November 21. The corresponding nomination process for the second phase will be held from November 18 to 20, and for the third phase from November 21 to 23.
Polling in all three phases will take place from 7 am to 1 pm. Counting of votes will begin at 2 pm on the respective polling dates, and results will be declared soon after the completion of counting. Elections to the Upa-Sarpanch posts will also be conducted on the same day on which the results are announced.
Of the 13,167 Sarpanch posts, 6,445 have been reserved for women across different categories. The reservations include 1,180 posts for Scheduled Tribes, 2,466 for Scheduled Castes and 3,105 for Backward Classes.
Another 3,299 posts have been earmarked for women under the general category, while 3,117 posts fall under the unreserved category. Similarly, of the 1,32,514 ward member posts, 66,170 have been reserved for women.
A total of 1,34,847 polling stations will be set up, of which 35,642 have been identified as sensitive and 28,568 as hypersensitive. The election machinery will involve 4,389 Returning Officers at Stage-1 and 13,169 at Stage-2, besides 4,389 Assistant Returning Officers.
For security, 34 SPs, 51 ASPs, 151 DSPs, 768 Inspectors and Reserve Inspectors, 1,637 Sub-Inspectors and Reserve Sub-Inspectors, besides other police personnel will be deployed.