- A new schedule has been revised by the Andhra Pradesh State Election Commission (SEC) for the first phase of elections preserving the fact that the district collectors have not made any arrangements to accept nominations from Monday. As per the latest schedule, the nominations for the first phase would commence on January, 29 and polling would be held on February 9.In January 23 elections to Local Body Elections will be held in four phases on February 9, 13,17 and 21.
- Meanwhile, the AP government has finalised the name of senior IAS officer K Kanna Babu for the SEC secretary post. State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh shall pay a visit to the Anantapur and Kurnool districts on Friday whereas to the Kadapa district on Saturday for reviewing the polling arrangements.
- Elections for the posts of sarpanches and ward members are being held in 12 districts excluding the Vizianagaram district following the counting phase.
- According to the SEC, the dates fixed for the polling (if necessary) for the II, III and IV phasesshall remain unalteredfollowing the listed events:
- The II phase will become phase-I
- Phase-III will become phase-II
- Phase-IV will be treated as phase-III
- phase-I had been rescheduled as phase-IV.
- The second phase polling would be held on February 13, III phase polling will be held on February, 17. The phase-IV polling would be conducted on February, 21. The counting of votes would be held on the same day immediately after the completion of polling in the afternoon.
- Timing for the Polling for all the phases will be held from 6.30 am to 3.30 pm whereas the acceptance of nominations will be from 10:30pm to 5:00pm on Sunday, January 31st.
- According to the last notification issued in Amaravati on Saturday, the elections will commence with the first phase on February 5. The development comes a day after the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government, vehemently opposed to the conduct of the polls, informed the SEC that the time was not conducive for the exercise.
- In the first phase, gram panchayats under 146 revenue mandals in 11 districts will go to the polls, according to the notification.
- Changes in three districts: Meanwhile elections will be conducted division- wise in four phases in Vizianagaram, Prakasam and West Godavari districts.
- Returning officers have been appointed in Panchayats to receive nominations across the State. Elsewhere Assistant Returning , Stage-1 officers were appointed for the smaller Panchayats by the Collectors.
- The Panchayat office will display voter lists on notice boards on Friday morning holding the first phase election on the ninth of January month.
- Below mentioned are the instalments ascending along with various districts:
- Instalment-1: Narasapuram revenue Division in the West Godavari District, Ongole.
- Instalment-2: Kovvur, Parvatipuram, Kandukur in Prakasam district
- Instalment-3: Jangareddygudem
- Instalment-4: Eluru Revenue Division
- The SEC has issued notification for elections in the first phase in 3,249 panchayats in 11 districts will go to the polls, according to the notification.
- The rules the contestants need to follow strictly:
- Those who want to contest for the seats of Sarpanch and ward members in connection with the first phase elections should submit nominations confirmed within the respective Gram Panchayats.
- It is mandatory for every contestant to be at least 21 years of age.
- Contestants/candidates should be registered as voters in their respective Panchayats/Wards.
- Only two people are allowed with the candidate during the filing of nominations.
- The authorities will announce the final list of contesting candidates on February 4.
- Contestants can campaign for 3 days from the date of the final list announced until the evening of February 7.
- In-charge district collector K Markendeyulu said 23.94 lakh voters, including 11.88 male voters and 12.06 lakh female voters under 1,369 Gram panchayats in the Chittoor district would exercise their franchise in the ensuring panchayat elections.
- Around 47,000 polling personnel would be deployed for conducting the elections in a smooth and peaceful manner. The stage has been set for procuring the required ballot boxes and ballot papers would be printed.
- Participating in the media conference, district SP Senthil Kumar said that an exercise for identifying the hypersensitive, sensitive and normal polling stations for deploying police force accordingly has been completed.
- Additional police force would also be deployed from other parts of the state if needed. Bind over cases would be registered against the anti-social elements throughout the district,” the SP said. Joint collector (development) V Veera Brahmam, trainee collector Vishnu Charan, ZP CEO Prabhakar Reddy and others were present.
| Districts | Panchayats | No. of wards |
| Anantapur | 169 | 1714 |
| Chittoor | 454 | 4142 |
| East Godavari | 366 | 4100 |
| Guntur | 337 | 3442 |
| Kadapa | 206 | 2068 |
| Krishna | 234 | 2502 |
| Kurnool | 193 | 1922 |
| Nellore | 163 | 1566 |
| Prakasam | 229 | 2344 |
| Srikakulam | 319 | 2902 |
| Visakhapatnam | 340 | 3250 |
| West Godavari | 239 | 2552 |
| Total | 3249 | 32504 |
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