ANANTAPUR: The number of candidates getting elected unopposed in the Panchayat elections has come down considerably in the ongoing third ordinary election process to the mandal parishad and zilla parishad territorial constituencies in the district, compared to the two previous polls.

In all, 59 out of 797 MPTC seats going for elections have been won unanimously by Congress, TDP and CPI this time. Of them, 47 have been bagged by Congress, followed by TDP (10) and one each by CPI and independents.

Similarly, one ZPTC has been bagged unanimously by the Congress.

Past elections

A look at the 1995 and 2001 election results to the MPTC and ZPTC seats reveal that the TDP had a clear sway over the unopposed election of candidates at both levels. In 1995, when the first ordinary elections were conducted to the newly created local bodies under the five-tier panchayat raj system, the TDP had won a whopping 168 MPTCs unopposed followed by independents (13), Congress (3) and CPI (1) out of a total of 724 seats.

The TDP had also won 14 ZPTCs, more than one-fifth of the total of 63, unanimously. An independent backed by the TDP had also won a ZPTC unopposed. In 2001 elections, the number of unanimous MPTCs had come down to 74 with majority of them again going into the kitty of TDP (54) followed by Congress (16) and independents (4). The TDP had also bagged two ZPTCs unopposed.

Total electorate

The total electorate for the present elections is 19,84,393 including the voters for the one ZPTC and 59 MPTCs . Polling will be conducted for 738 MPTCs and 62 ZPTCs.

A glance at the educational profile of the 204 candidates for the 63 ZPTCs this time reveals that the parties have given some thought to the educational qualifications of their nominees. There are six post-graduates in the fray followed by 38 graduates including an engineer and two lawyers, 34 Intermediate/diploma holders, 52 SSC passed and 56 below SSC studied. Only 18 contestants are illiterates.

Ministers camp in district

Meanwhile, the Congress and TDP leaders have intensified their campaigning by conducting road shows and street corner meetings. Ministers J.C. Diwakar Reddy and N. Raghuveera Reddy are leading the Congress electioneering, while TDP is depending on its legislators, former MLAs, MPs and others.

The TDP is planning to give a momentum to its canvassing with whirlwind tour of N. Harikrishna in the district on June 24 and 25.

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