Hyderabad: In the first phase of MPTC and ZPTC elections to be held in Telangana on Monday, voters will exercise their franchise in 2097 MPTC and 195 ZPTC seats. Elaborate arrangements have been made by the State Election Commission for the smooth conduct of polls.

Although elections to 2166 MPTC and 197 ZPTC seats are supposed to be held in the first phase, the elections in 69 MPTC and 2 ZPTC became unanimous with no more than one contestant left in the fray. Election for Gaggalapalli MPTC has been put on hold, following the incident in which local TRS candidate had allegedly paid Rs 10 lakh to Congress candidate to request the latter to withdraw from the poll. The election for Gaggalapalli MPTC will be held separately, the State Election Commission said.

In all, 5,817 MPTC seats, barring where the elections have been on put due to different reasons, will go for polls in three phases.

The State Election Commission said that the polling will be held between 7 AM and 5 PM in all seats except in Maoist infested areas. Accordingly, polling will be held in 1,879 MPTC seats until 5 PM; whereas, it will be held until 4 PM in 217 MPTC seats identified to witness Maoist threat.

Unlike in Assembly and Lok Sabha polls, ballot papers will be used in these local body elections. Pink and white ballot papers will be used for MPTC and ZPTC seats respectively. Voters are requested to carry their voter identity cards along with the voter slips. They can also bring any proof of identification such as, Aadhar Card, PAN Card, driving license and any government identity card to authenticate their identity in case they don’t have the voter identity card. Clear instructions have been issued that voters will not be allowed to carry any water bottles, pens, match boxes and other items that could possibly affect the voting process, the State Election said in a statement.

Also Read: Telangana: Poll Process In Gaggallapalli MPTC Declared Void By EC