Vijayawada: State Election Commissioner N Ramesh Kumar exhorts people to exercise their right to vote freely

Vijayawada: State Election Commissioner (SEC) N Ramesh Kumar said that the Election Commission was gearing up for conducting the local body elections transparently, peacefully and democratically.

Addressing the media at the State Election Commission here on Thursday, Ramesh Kumar said the commission had held talks with the officials of the panchayat raj, municipal administration and the police on conducting elections and the reservation system. The SEC said that guidelines had been forwarded to the district collectors and superintendents of police to conduct elections efficiently.

He exhorted people to exercise their right to vote freely in large numbers in the local body elections. Referring to the security precautions, he said that the problematic areas were identified and special security measures would be taken in such areas.

He said that check-posts would be set up on the borders of districts and state border with the help of police. The SEC said that a meeting with the district collectors and SPs would be held on Friday to give them guidance and suggestions.

About 1.4 lakh ballot boxes are available in the state and the neighbouring Telangana and Odisha states have agreed to lend 40,000 boxes each for the local body elections. He said that a meeting with the leaders of the political parties would be conducted on Friday after conducting meeting with the Chief Secretary, the DGP, principal secretaries of panchayat and municipal administration departments.

The details of the reservations for the local body elections would be submitted by the officials to the State Election Commission and they would be placed in the public domain. The High Court instructions would be observed, he added.

SEC secretary S Ramasundara Reddy and joint secretary AV Satya Ramesh were also present.