Andhra election candidates’ nominations to be accepted from April 18-25

Andhra election candidates’ nominations to be accepted from April 18-25

Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Mukesh Kumar Meena on Wednesday said nominations from candidates for the 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Assembly seats will be accepted from April 18 to 25 between 11 am and 3 pm.

Candidates can file their nominations personally or through a proposer and are required to submit the details of a newly opened bank account.

''The crucial part of accepting nominations for the electoral process will begin from Thursday and all the district officials have made the arrangements,'' said Meena in a press release.

Besides opening a helpdesk for filing nominations, the Election Commission will also open helpdesks in all the Assembly constituencies.

Though there is an option to file nominations through the Suvidha app, the hard copies must be submitted to the Returning Officer (RO).

The CEO noted that nominations will be scrutinised on April 26 and the last date for candidates to withdraw them is April 29.

He observed that each candidate can file a maximum of four sets of nomination and a candidate can contest a maximum of only two seats.

Along with the candidate, only four more persons will be allowed into the Returning Officer's office for filing the nomination and all others will be restricted at a distance of 100 metres. Likewise, only three vehicles will be allowed into the RO's office, he said.

Further, the CEO said Parliamentary candidates have to deposit Rs 25,000 and Assembly candidates Rs 10,000, which is halved in case of SC/ST candidates.

To record the entire nominations procedure, the Election Commission has set up CCTV cameras in the office where the nominations are received and also the way leading to it, said Meena.

As part of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), the CEO said the poll body will also record the candidates coming in a procession to file their nominations.

Moreover, Meena highlighted that from the time of filing the nominations, a candidate's expenditure will be accounted for, along with announcements in newspapers and paid news.

Simultaneous elections for the Assembly and Lok Sabha in Andhra Pradesh are scheduled on May 13 and the counting of votes will be held on June 4.

 

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)