Results of MPTC/ZPTC elections are postponed

Considering the request made by an all-party delegation on May 17 and the Congress on May 18, the State Election Commission (SEC) has decided to postpone the counting date of the mandal and zilla parishad elections. The parties had claimed that 40-day gap between the results and the election of zilla parishad chairpersons would give scope for horsetrading.

The counting was scheduled for May 27 and the election of ZP chairpersons and mandal presidents was to take place on July 5. The term of the incumbents is to expire on July 4, except in Khammam. The SEC had conducted the three-phase election for 5,817 mandal parishad and 538 zilla parishad territorial constituencies which ended last week.

SEC secretary M. Ashok Kumar issued orders to postpone the counting date to reduce the scope for irregularities and said a fresh date would be announced soon. Mr Kumar said a proposal to conduct counting on July 3 was submitted to the government. He said that he had asked the education department take necessary action pertaining to storage of ballot boxes in schools and colleges.