India
oi-Madhuri Adnal
Amaravati, Feb 17: Over 55.75 lakh voters will get to exercise their franchise to elect 2,639 sarpanches and 19,553 village ward members in the third phase of elections to the gram panchayats in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday.
Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Principal Secretary Gopal Krishna Dwivedi said in a release on the eve of the election that 26,851 polling stations have been set up under 160 revenue mandals in 13 districts.
Of the total, 1,977 polling stations were in the Maoist- affected areas, while 3,127 have been classified as hypersensitive and 4,118 sensitive polling stations.
While polling would be held from 6.30 am to 3.30 pm in all polling stations, the process has been curtailed by two hours in Maoist-affected areas. Of the 3,221 village sarpanch posts in the third phase, 579 had gone unopposed. Similarly, 11,753 of 31,516 ward members were also elected…