- Third phase elections in Telangana after campaign ends
- Third phase elections as EC issues law and order orders
Hyderabad: Third phase elections for Gram Panchayats in Telangana will take place on December 17. The State Election Commission said it has completed all arrangements. The campaign for this phase ended on Monday. Therefore, polling will now go ahead as scheduled on Wednesday. Officials said the process will follow strict rules to ensure smooth voting and counting.
According to official information, notifications were issued for 4,157 Gram Panchayats in the third phase. However, nominations were not received for 11 Sarpanch posts. Meanwhile, 394 Sarpanch posts were filled unanimously. A total of 12,640 candidates are contesting for the remaining 3,752 Sarpanch posts. The scale of the contest shows strong participation across rural Telangana in the third phase elections.
The picture is similar at the ward level. No nominations were filed for 112 of the 36,434 ward seats. At the same time, 7,916 wards were declared unanimous. As many as 75,283 candidates are contesting for the remaining 28,406 ward seats. Earlier, the Panchayat elections were completed in two phases on December 11 and December 14. Based on experiences from those phases, the Commission decided to strengthen arrangements. It also ordered extra care in verifying invalid votes.
Third phase elections followed by restrictions and counting rules
Meanwhile, the State Election Commission issued clear instructions to district Collectors and Police officials. Law and order measures will remain in force from the evening of December 15 until 10 am on December 18. During this period, rallies, processions, public meetings, and demonstrations will not be allowed. The Commission also directed officials to ensure peace during the counting of votes.
In the second phase of elections held on Sunday, Congress-backed candidates won 53.54 percent of the Sarpanch seats. Out of 4,333 seats, Congress supporters won 2,299. BRS-backed candidates won 1,192 seats. BJP supporters won 257 villages, while independents secured 578 seats. These results set the context for the third phase elections.
Later, the government ordered that the first Panchayat meetings take place on December 20. Oath-taking for elected Sarpanches and ward members will also happen the same day. MPDOs were instructed to collect resolutions and send them to Collectors by 5 pm. The government allocated Rs. 175 crore for the elections. So far, up to Rs. 100 crore has been released. The remaining amount will follow, though officials said an additional Rs. 50 crore may be needed.
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