Andhra municipal poll votes to be counted Monday

Hyderabad, May 11 (IANS) Counting of votes polled in the March 30 municipal elections in Andhra Pradesh will be taken up Monday.

State Election Commissioner P. Ramakanth Reddy told reporters that the counting of votes will begin at 8 a.m. at 155 counting centres in 65 places.

As electronic voting machines (EVMs) were used in the elections in 10 municipal corporations and 146 municipalities, all results are expected by the afternoon.

The official said 8,000 people would be deployed for counting of votes.

The poll panel has ordered closure of all liquor shops near the counting centres to prevent any law and order problem.

The commission also announced that counting of votes polled in rural local body elections held last month will be taken up Tuesday.

Votes polled for 16,124 Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTCs) and 1,093 Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTCs) will be counted at 2,099 centres.

Since ballot papers were used for these elections, the counting process is likely to take some time.

The counting for both urban and rural local bodies were scheduled after the elections but on petitions filed by some parties, the Supreme Court had directed the commission to take up counting only after elections for the state assembly and the Lok Sabha were completed. The petitioners had argued that the results could influence the general election.

Simultaneous elections for the assembly and the Lok Sabha were held in two phases April 30 and May 7. The counting of votes for these elections is scheduled May 16.

The much delayed elections to urban and rural local bodies were announced after the intervention of the Andhra Pradesh High Court and the Supreme Court, respectively.