Ahead of the local body elections in 805 Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTC) and 970 Gram Panchayats in Kurnool, security has been beefed up in sensitive areas.
“A total of 73 villages have been identified as ‘faction villages’ and police deployment will be higher there. All the police officers in the district, over 4,500 of them, will participate in the local body elections,” said Superintendent of Police Fakkeerappa Kaginelli.
He said sensitive and hypersensitive polling stations had been identified and that police personnel would be deployed accordingly.
Responding to a query on shortage of personnel, Mr. Kaginelli said: “Because the elections are being conducted in a phased manner, we do not expect any shortages. However, we requested the government to deploy 700 additional forces for the elections.”
The general elections in the district were peaceful and largely successful. The district police are working to repeat the success of previous elections, Mr. Kaginelli said.
Training for revenue officers and village revenue officers have begun and District Collector G. Veerapandian conducted the classes on Monday. He warned the officials of strict action in case anyone was found to be lax in discharging their duties.
The urban local body elections will be held in nine places, including Kurnool, Nandyal and Adoni. The elections will also give Kurnool a Mayor, a post that has been empty for about ten years. Political parties have also been preparing heavily to contest for the post.
Earlier, the district had 807 MPTCs, however as Nandagiri 1 and 2 were merged with Adoni mandal, the elections will be held in 805 constituencies.
