Election machinery geared up for simultaneous polls in Andhra

Election authorities in Andhra Pradesh said they were ready to conduct simultaneous elections to the state assembly as the Election Commission announced the poll schedule on Sunday.

Amaravati:With the Election Commission announcing the Lok Sabha poll schedule on Sunday, election authorities in Andhra Pradesh said they were ready to conduct simultaneous elections to the state Assembly and the Lok Sabha on April 11.

All 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state will witness single-phase polling. With en masse applications for deletion of voters triggering a huge row, the poll officials have asked people to check their names in the voter list.

Chief Electoral Officer Gopal Krishna Dwivedi told a news conference that new voters and those whose names were missing can apply for enrollment by March 15 and that the final electoral rolls will be published on March 25.

As on February 26, the state had 3.71 crore voters including 87 lakh women. Over 2.64 lakh applications for enrollment were pending. Dwivedi said 9,27,542 applications in Form-7 (for deletion of voters) were received and out of them 5,25,957 applications were rejected. Another 1,58,124 applications were under consideration.

He said 446 cases were registered against those who submitted false applications for deletion of voters.The CEO said 20 lakh voter cards were currently being printed while there were plans to print another 13 lakh cards.

As per the poll schedule, the notification will be issued on March 18. The last date for filing nominations is March 25 while nominations can be withdrawn till March 28.

(With IANS inputs)