Panchayat polls second phase today

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, AUG. 16. Elections to 7,251 gram panchayats in 27 revenue divisions will be held tomorrow in the second phase of panchayat elections. The first phase was held on Tuesday and the last phase of voting will be held on Monday.

The State Election Commission has said that they have set up 72,758 polling stations and requisitioned the services of 2,21,238 employees to work as polling personnel. The average number of contestants for the post of sarpanch is 3.17. There will be elections to 70,828 ward members as well, and the average number of contestants is 2.28.

Tomorrow's elections will be held in the following revenue divisions: Tekkali, Vizianagaram, Paderu, Kakinada, Rajahmundry, Kovvuru, Machilipatnam, Guntur, Markapuram, Kavali, Chittoor, Cuddapah, Penugonda, Nandyala, Mahbubnagar, Miryalguda, Nalgonda, Palwancha, Bhadrachalam, Medak, Nizamabad, Manthani, Peddapalli, Adilabad, Mancherial and Chevella.

Meanwhile, according to a report from Eluru, one person was stabbed to death and three others sustained critical injuries at Jaggannapet village in Tadepalligudem mandal of West Godavari district.

According to police, the dead was identified as M. Veeranna. The injured persons - Ch. Mutyalu, D. Pottaiah and A. Venkata Rao - were rushed to the Government Hospital at Tadepalligudem. In the attack by one P. Venkateswara Rao, Mutyalu's intestines were ruptured while Pottaiah and Venkata Rao received stab injuries on the chest, thighs and on the back. Their condition is stated to be critical. When the accused indulged in abusing some women for voting against the candidate whom he supported in the elections, the victims offered resistance leading to the clash, it is said. Jaggannapet gram panchayat went to the polls on August 14 in the first phase.

The attack assumed political overtones as the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) member, Mr. Kottu Satyanarayana, visited the hospital and consoled the victims by claiming that they were supporters of the Congress.

Ballot papers found

The Congress has demanded recounting of votes of Banjapalli gram panchayat in Nizamsagar mandal in Nizamabad district after students of the local government school came across eight ballot papers and counterfoils of the sarpanch and the ward member posts and handed over the same to Congress workers of the village on Thursday.

A group of Congress workers from Banjapalli gram panchayat brought the photocopies of the ballot papers to the District Panchayat Officer, Mr. G. Ramakrishna Rao, and demanded that repoll be ordered. They also demanded an enquiry as to how the ballot papers found its way on the premises of the school building.

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Section  : Southern States
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