77% polling witnessed in Telangana civic polls: SEC

: Nearly 77 per cent of the over 59 lakh people exercised their franchise in the first phase of elections to mandal parishad territorial constituencies (MPTCs) and zilla parishad territorial constituencies (ZPTCs), official figures said Monday.

The first phase polling was held for 2,097 MPTCs and 195 ZPTCs.

A total of 7,072 candidates for MPTC and 882 for ZPTC was in the fray. The poll percentage stood at 76.80 per cent, according to the figures given by the State Election Commission.

The elections were held from 7 AM to 5 PM, while in Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected areas, it started at 7 AM and concluded at 4 PM, they said.

Unanimous elections had earlier been held for 69 MPTCs and two ZPTCs.

The Telangana State Election Commission had last month released the election schedule for 5,817 MPTCs and 539 ZPTCs and announced that the first phase polls would held on May 6, the second on May 10 and the third on May 14.

Around 1.56 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the elections to two upper tiers of local bodies.

The elections are being held through ballot and counting would be held on May 27, officials had earlier said.

After the ZPTC and MPTC polls, Mandal Praja Parishad and Zilla Praja Parishad (ZPP) members would be elected.

The assembly elections were held in December 2018 and the panchayat polls in January this year.

Elections to 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state were held on April 11.