If the newly-appointed state election commissioner (SEC) of Andhra Pradesh Neelam Sawhney has her way, pending elections to the mandal parishad and zilla parishads would be held in two phases on April 8 and 10.
An indication to this effect was given by Neelam Sawhney, who took charge as the new SEC on Thursday, following the retirement of controversial SEC Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar on Wednesday.
Soon after taking charge as the SEC, Neelam Sawhney met Governor Biswa Bhushan Harichandan and discussed the developments on the conduct of the local body elections till date.
She reportedly indicated to him that she would complete the balance process at the earliest.
On returning to her office, the new SEC began holding a meeting with officials of the commission to discuss the way forward.
In all probability, she might finalise the schedule for the completion of the elections to MPTCs and ZPTCs by Thursday evening or Friday morning.
Since the nomination process is already over, the exercise will commence from withdrawal of nominations. The polling is likely to be held in two phases on April 8 and 10.
Apparently, the government requested her to complete the process before the Centre imposes lockdown again, in the wake of sharp rise in the number of Covid-19 cases.
However, there is a case pending in the state high court with regard to the mandal and ZP polls. It remains to be seen whether it would have any effect on the revival of the poll process.
There are in all, 660 ZPTCs and 9,984 MPTCs in Andhra Pradesh, of which as many as 126 ZPTCs and 2,363 MPTCs were elected unanimous during the beginning of the election process in March 2020.