Hyderabad, January 2: The Telangana state Election Commission announced the dates for Gram Panchayat polls on Tuesday. The elections conducting body informed that the elections would take place in three phases on January 21, 25 and 30 and declared that the model code of conduct (MCC) comes into force.

Announcing the dates for polls, the State Election Commissioner V Nagi Reddy stated that around 19 Gram Panchayats, out of the total 12,751, would not go to polls. Earlier these elections were held in these 19 villages after July, 2013. Panchayat Poll Violence: Akalis Blame Congress.

Briefing more about the arrangements, the senior official stated that they had prepared 3.5 crore ballot papers for the elections, and the voters would cast two votes - one for the Gram Sarpanch and another for the ward member. Soon after the polls are over, the counting will start on January 30, and the selected ward members will then elect an Upa-Sarpanch.

Speaking about the deposit amount, the SEC stated that for the Sarpanch (general), SC, ST and BC candidates will have to deposit Rs 1,000. While for the ward members will have deposit Rs 500 (general) and Rs 250 (for reserved candidates). Also, the poll expenditure cannot exceed Rs 2.5 lakh and if the village’s population is more than 5,000, said Reddy.

Adding on, he stated that a Sarpanch candidate could expend upto Rs 1.50 lakh if the village’s population is less than 5,000. However, for the ward member, a candidate can only expend till Rs 50,000 (general) and Rs 30,000 (for reserved candidates) respectively.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 02, 2019 05:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).