Officials barred from taking leaves till end of civic polls

Hyderabad: Leaves of all the officials engaged in the municipal elections have been cancelled till the conduct of the polls on January 25.

The poll authorities were also warned of strict action if any official skipped the duties or failed to perform during the poll period.

State Chief Secretary (CS) Somesh Kumar held a video conference with all District Collectors on the arrangements being made for municipal elections on Wednesday.

The official made Collectors responsible for the smooth conduct of the elections and directed them to make necessary arrangements and complete the process without any problems as per the election schedule given by the State Election Commission (SEC).

Somesh said it is for the first-time highest number of ULBs (Urban Local Bodies) and Corporations are going for elections in Telangana.

The Collectors should focus carefully in every aspect like polling staff allotment, printing of ballot papers, procuring of ballot boxes and papers, he directed. The CS asserted extra care should be taken in Ranga Reddy, Medchal-Malkajgiri, Mancherial, Sanga Reddy and Nalgonda which have more number of municipalities.

The official advised to prepare a calendar of activities for each day and be more careful on rejected nominations. He emphasised that the role of Collectors is critical in the election process.

He interacted with Collectors district wise on their preparedness. Principal Secretary, MA&UD, Arvind Kumar has said that Collectors should have close liaison with Municipal Commissioners during the election process.

He made it clear that no leaves will be sanctioned to the staff and officials involved in election related

activities.

TK Sridevi, Commissioner and Director, Municipal Administration also participated in the meeting.