Campaigning ends virtually in 11 districts

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, JULY 9. About two crore voters will exercise their franchise on Thursday to elect about 500 members of Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies and about 7,000 members of MPTCs in 11 districts.

The election campaign virtually ended today though, according to the Panchayat Raj Act, campaign actually ends at 7.00 a.m. on Tuesday, 48 hours before the commencement of polling on July 12. But there is a ban on use of loudspeakers after 10.00 p.m. So, no public meeting can be held thereafter. This provision is different in respect of elections to Assembly and Parliament where campaign ends 48 hours before the end of polling giving a clear extra day for campaign.

Some of the provisions of the Panchayat Raj Act are unknown even to polling officers and candidates. It is this confusion that led to acceptance of the withdrawal from contest of a Congress candidate for an MPTC seat in East Godavari district, that led to the dharna for five hours by the president of the APCC, Mr. M. Sathyanarayana Rao.

In Assembly and Parliamentary elections, a candidate himself, or his proposer, can withdraw the candidature, but in panchayat polls, only the candidate can withdraw from contest. In the East Godavari contest, the Congress candidate alleged that she was `kidnapped' by Congressmen while the Returning Officer accepted the withdrawal submitted by the candidate's daughter, who proposed her mother's candidature in the first place and declared the TDP nominee elected without contest.

After Mr. Sathyanarayana Rao's dharna, the State Election Commission ordered that the Returning Officer should be replaced for violating the rule. But after the time for withdrawal was over, the Congress candidate gave a written affidavit, stating that she indeed withdrew from contest. The CPI and CPI (M) have demanded an enquiry into all withdrawals, alleging that the ruling party indulged in money and muscle power to ensure unanimous elections.

Elections will be held on Thursday in Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, West Godavari, Guntur, Nellore, Chittoor, Mahabubnagar, Ranga Reddy, Nizamabad, Warangal and Khammam districts.

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Section  : Southern States
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