Date of indirect election yet to be announced
The counting of votes for the recently concluded elections to zilla parishad (ZPTCs) and mandal parishad territorial constituencies (MPTCs) will be taken up from 8 a.m. on June 4.
The Telangana State Election Commission has decided to complete the counting process and announce the results the same day after the completion of counting of votes.
The decision comes a day after the State government issued an Ordinance amending provisions under Sections 147 and 176 of the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act, 2018, paving the way for advancing counting and conduct indirect elections for the posts of zilla parishad chairpersons and vice-chairpersons and mandal praja parishad president and vice-president posts.
In its notification, the State Election Commission said that counting of votes for the three-phased elections held on May 6, 10 and 14 was slated on May 27. But it had been deferred in view of the representations received from various sections, including political parties, seeking postponement on the ground that long gap of over 40 days between the date of counting and indirect elections likely in July first week gave scope for horse trading and other malpractices.
Provisions ammended
The Commission considered that there was need to reduce time gap between counting of votes in direct elections and advancement of the date of indirect election to avoid scope for any malpractices and had accordingly sought amendments to the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act.
The government had amended the sections and issued an Ordinance and the same was communicated to the Commission.
The amendments also envisaged conduct of special sessions of the elected bodies within a couple of days from the declaration of results enabling the members to elect zilla parishad chairpersons and vice-chairpersons and mandal praja parishad presidents and vice-presidents.
Interestingly, the State Election Commission which announced the date for counting of votes for direct elections, however, did not make any mention about the dates on which the special session of the rural local bodies would be held for the indirect elections in its notification.
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