Wrapping up the counting of votes for elections to the Panchayati Raj Institutions, State Election Commissioner P. Ramakanth Reddy thanked the district officials for extending their cooperation to the massive exercise.
Speaking to reporters here on Wednesday, Mr. Ramakanth Reddy said this was the longest-ever election process to local bodies in the State as EVMs and ballot boxes had to be stored for over 30 days after the day of polling. The SEC conducted elections to the urban local bodies, 145 municipalities and 10 municipal corporations on March 30, followed by election to the Zilla Parishad and Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies on April 6 and 11.
The SEC took up counting for municipal elections on May 12, and for ZPTCs and MPTCs on May 13, which continued till Wednesday forenoon.
Mr. Ramakanth Reddy said additional ballot boxes were brought from Karnataka (20,000), Tamil Nadu (7,000) and Odisha (8,000), while thanking election officials of those States.
In the process, the SEC faced several problems – in some areas the ballot papers were damaged due to rains and other factors. In West Godavari and Nellore districts, wet ballot papers were dried before counting was taken up.
No vote for MPs, MLAsReplying to a question, he said the indirect election for the chairpersons of Mandal Parishads and Zilla Parishads would be decided later by the newly-elected MPTC and ZPTC members. It was not for them to say when the election should be held. However, newly-elected MPs and MLAs, who form part of the Zilla Parishads and Mandal Parishads, would not have voting rights in the election, but could participate in the meetings. Only MPTC and ZPTC members would participate in the election of the chairpersons, he said. He said recognised parties could issue whips to the members.
