Vijayawada: People will exercise their ballot right in the Phase-1 of the gram panchayat surveys in the state on Tuesday.

The election will be carried out for 2,723 sarpanchs and 20,157 ward members in 12 districts of the state disallowing Vizianagaram on Tuesday.While the State Election Commission has actually notified elections for 3,249 sarpanch posts and likewise for 32,502 ward members in 3,249 gram panchayats, people have actually chosen their town heads all in 525 gram panchayats.

The elections for 12,185 ward members too have actually been unopposed.

Without any elections filed at the Velicharla gram panchayat in Nellore district for the sarpanch post, 2,723 gram panchayats are up for grabs in the Tuesday's elections.

With no elections applied for 160 ward members, the election will be held for 20,157 ward members just.

As many as 7,506 candidates are competing for 2,723 sarpanch posts and 43,601 candidates for 20,157 ward member positions-- making the election a two-candidate fight at a lot of places.Panchayat raj and rural advancement principal secretary Gopala Krishna Dwivedi informed media individuals that they had finished making all requisite arrangements for the conduct of gram panchayat polls in phase-1 on February 9 in the state.

We interest all the citizens to participate in the elections by exercising their franchise in a democratic spirit.

We have introduced the option of NOTA which means 'None of the Above' to enable the voter to officially sign up a vote of rejection for all entrants in the fray.

The number of votes for NOTA will not be counted, he stated.

Polling will be held from 6.30 am to 3.30 pm and the counting of votes will begin with 4 pm onwards and the outcomes will be stated right after completion of counting of votes by late in the night.Elaborate arrangements have actually been made by both the state federal government and the State Election Commission for the conduct of gram panchayat surveys.

The elections will be conducted at 29,732 polling stations.

Of these, 3,458 have actually been thought about delicate and 3,594 hypersensitive.The authorities have actually organized ballot boxes of 3 sizes-- 18,608 big-sized boxes, 8,503 medium-sized and 21,338 small.

About 1,130 officials have been selected as returning officers stage-1, 3,249 officials as returning officers stage-2, 1,432 authorities as assistant returning officers, 33,533 as presiding officers and 44,392 as ballot personnel for the conduct of surveys in a free and fair manner.

About 519 zonal officers, 1,121 route officers and 3,047 micro observers have been selected.

The authorities have actually arranged face masks, hand sanitisers and hand gloves at the polling stations as per Covid-19 protocol for the polling personnel and the citizens.

In case any polling staff found to be Covid-19 positive, PPE packages are likewise arranged.The state authorities have actually made intricate security arrangements for the conduct of polling with no untoward events.

Thirteen authorities, one each for a district, from the workplace of commissioner and panchayat raj department have actually been sent to be in touch with district officials to assist them carry out the polls while a command and control centre is established at the commissioner's workplace to keep a close tab on the elections.

Ballot to be held in districts and income departments accordingly: Srikakulam-Srikakulam, Tekkali and Palakonda; Visakhapatnam-Anakapalli; East Godavari-Kakinada and Peddapuram; West Godavari-Narasapuram; Krishna-Vijayawada; Guntur-Tenali; Prakasam-Ongole; Nellore-Kavali; Kurnool-Nandyal and Kurnool; Anantapur-Kadiri; Kadapa-Jammalamadugu, Kadapa and Rajampet and Chittoor-Chittoor.