Thirty candidates are in the fray as elections to two Teachers constituencies in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council will be held on Sunday, March 14. Sitting legislator AS Ramakrishna is trying his luck once again from the Krishna-Guntur Teachers Constituency while the remaining are new candidates.
The main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has supported the candidature of Ramakrishna, while in East and West Godavari Teachers Constituency it has extended support to an independent nominee Cherukuri Subhash Chandra Bose.
There are five Teachers constituency seats in the 58 member AP Legislative Council. Sitting MLCs Ramu Surya Rao and A S Ramakrishna are set to retire at the end of their six-year term on March 29.
There are 17,467 electors in East and West and 13,505 in Krishna-Guntur Teachers constituencies, according to Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), K Vijayanand.
He said 116 polling stations were set up in East-West and 111 in Krishna-Guntur and over 5,000 staff have been deployed for polling duties.
Under Rampachodavaram, Yatapaka, Kukunoor and Jangareddygudem divisions in the two Godavari districts, the polling stations have been classified as Left-Wing Extremism affected and, as such, polling duration here will be only from 8 am to 2 pm, while in the remaining places it will be till 4 pm.
Senior IAS officers Samuel Anand Kumar and K V Ramana have been posted as Observers for the two constituencies to oversee the poll process. "All necessary COVID-19 containment measures like thermal scanning and sanitisers are being taken as per Covid-19 protocol.
An IAS officer, Vinod Kumar, has been appointed as Nodal Officer to oversee the COVID-19 containment measures in these two constituencies," the CEO said.
All security measures have been put in place to ensure a free and fair poll, Vijayanand said, appealing to the voters to exercise their franchise. The counting of votes will be taken up on March 17.