Elections to municipal bodies, Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTCs) and Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTCs) and village panchayats are going to be held in quick succession from March 21.
As per the schedule released by State Election Commissioner (SEC) N. Ramesh Kumar at a press conference on Saturday, the ZPTC and MPTC elections and municipal elections will be held in single phases on March 21 and 23 and in the case of village panchayats, they will be conducted in two phases on March 27 and March 29.
With this, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) has come into immediate effect.
The notification for ZPTC and MPTC elections was issued on Saturday and for the municipal and village panchayat elections, separate notifications will be issued on March 9 and March 15 (first phase) and 17 (second phase).
Nominations for the ZPTC and MPTC elections are to be filed from March 9 to 11 and for the municipal polls, the nominations have to be filed from March 11 to 13.
The nominations for village panchayats are to be filed from March 17 to 19 for the first phase and from March 19 to 21 for the second phase.
The results of elections to ZPTCs and MPTCs and municipal bodies will be declared on March 24 and 27 and the results of village panchayat elections will be announced on March 27 (first phase) and March 29 (second phase).
Mr. Ramesh Kumar said indirect elections to co-opted members, chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of Zilla Praja Parishads and co-opted members, presidents and vice-presidents of Mandal Praja Parishads (MPPs) would be held on March 30.
Indirect elections to mayors and deputy mayors of municipal corporations and chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of municipalities and Nagar panchayats would be held on March 31.
There are 10,047 MPTCs, 660 ZPTCs and 660 MPPs.
No role for village volunteers
Mr. Ramesh Kumar said new schemes could not be launched when the MCC is in force and schemes which might influence the voters could not be implemented. Besides, government officers could not be transferred and full powers were given to the district collectors and superintendents of police for conducting the elections smoothly.
General observers were being appointed to monitor the elections and senior IAS officers would be monitoring the expenditure of candidates and political parties.
The SEC said elections were not being held for newly-formed panchayats and instructions have been issued to prevent the painting of government buildings with colours associated with any political party. The services of village volunteers would not be utilised in the conduct of elections, he added.
