Final phase of Telangana rural local body elections underway

The third and final phase of polling for Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTC) and Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTC) elections got underway Tuesday.

The polling began at 7 AM and would continue till 5 PM, except in Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected areas, where it would conclude an hour early at 4 PM, State Election Commission said.

The election is held for 161 ZPTCs, and 741 candidates are in the fray. Officials said polling is being held for 1708 MPTCs, with 5726 candidates.

The Commission last month released the election schedule for 5,817 MPTCs and 539 ZPTCs. The first phase and second phase were held on May six and 10, respectively.

Around 1.56 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the elections to two upper tiers of local bodies. The elections are being held through ballot and counting would be held on May 27, officials had earlier said.

After the ZPTC and MPTC polls, Mandal Praja Parishad and Zilla Praja Parishad members would be elected.

The Assembly elections were held in December 2018 and the Panchayat polls in January this year. Elections to 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state were held in a single phase on April 11.