The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Panchayat polls: no hike in deposit amount

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 07, 2006

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Panchayat polls: no hike in deposit amount

Special Correspondent

State Election Commission holds all-party meeting

HYDERABAD: The State Election Commission has decided not to enhance the deposit amount for those contesting in the forthcoming panchayat raj elections.

A decision to this effect was taken at an all-party meeting here on Tuesday following a request made by leaders cutting across party lines.

As for the date of issue of notification for the elections, State Election Commissioner A.V.S. Reddy said the commission would wait for the High Court's direction expected on June 9. "The Government has already informed the court that it is prepared to announce the notification before June 12 so that the election process for zilla and mandal parishads are completed by July 23," he said. As a result of the commission's decision to retain the previous deposit, Backward Classes candidates can deposit the same amount on par with their SC and ST counterparts. This would ensure that SC/ST/BC candidates for the ZPTC elections would pay only Rs. 1,000 as against Rs. 2,000 for general categories. Similarly, the deposit for MPTC was Rs. 500 for reserved groups and Rs. 1,000 for others.

Mr. Reddy told reporters that the deposit amount in respect of sarpanches and ward members would be Rs. 60 to the reserved categories and Rs. 200 for others. The expenditure limit was, however, not increased.

TDP demand

TDP general secretary Kadiam Srihari, Member of Parliament R. Chandrasekhara Reddy and former Minister K. Vijayarama Rao demanded that voter lists be corrected by deleting bogus voters.

On the objections raised by political parties on the condition that the list of polling agents be furnished three days ahead of polling, Mr. Reddy said: "We are examining the issue with senior police officials."

The move was to ensure that those with criminal records were denied permission to act as agents.

Speaking to newsmen after the meeting, Mr. Srihari alleged that Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy was misusing the official programmes to campaign for his party.

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