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Elections to 21,442 gram panchayats in Andhra Pradesh will be held on non-party basis in three phases starting from August 14, State Election Commissioner K Madhava Rao announced in Hyderabad on Monday.
Releasing the election notification after an all-party meeting convened by him, the SEC said that the model code of conduct for political parties and candidates had come into force with immediate effect.
However, the drought relief programmes would be exempted from the purview of the code of conduct in view of the unprecedented adverse seasonal conditions prevailing in the state.
The SEC said that it was not possible to hold simultaneous elections all over the state due to paucity of ballot boxes.
He said that elections would be held to 21,442 gram panchayats whose term expired in October last year.
Polls in another 472 gram panchayats, which have not yet completed their term, would be held later. About 3.86 crore (38.6 million) voters are enrolled in the gram panchayats.
The nominations would close on August 4 and polling would be held in three phases, revenue-division wise, on August 14, 17 and 20, the SEC said.
In all, there are 77 revenue divisions spread over 22 districts.
Sarpanchs (head of local self-government bodies) and ward members would be elected directly by the voters.
However, indirect elections would be held for the posts of deputy sarpanchs (upa sarpanch) the day after the results of the gram panchayat polls were declared.
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