The Municipal Corporation of Tirupati (MCT) is all set to go to polls after a gap of nearly two decades and for the first time after becoming a corporation.
The temple city remained without an elected body for the last 19 years under the control of official machinery, headed by a Special Officer. It was in 2002 that the last elections were held to the then Tirupati Municipal Council, the term of which ended by 2007.
Though it was upgraded to a corporation later, elections continued to remain elusive as it was mired in a series of controversies over reservation to the post of Mayor, merger of adjoining panchayats and revision of voter list and so on.
Announcing the clamping of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) in the city on Monday, MCT Commissioner P.S. Gireesha said the process would resume from where it was halted in February last year. At least 324 nominations had already been received in the past when the process was set in motion. Those who filed nominations then will continue to be in the fray. Unwilling candidates can withdraw their nominations on March 2 and 3, and the final list would be published by 3 p.m. on March 3.
Dates
Polling will be held on March 10, re-poll, if necessitated, on March 13 and counting of votes will be held on March 14 to announce the results by the end of day.
The 2.66 lakh voters have, at last, got an opportunity to get their fingers marked with the indelible ink and select the candidate for their local body. Of the fifty divisions, 14 were allotted for General (Women), thirteen for General, eight for BC (Women), nine for BC, three for SC, two for SC (Women) and one for ST categories.
