Stage set for civic polls in Telangana

: The second phase of polling for Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTC) and Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTC) elections would be held Friday.

The elections would be held from 7 AM to 5 PM, while in Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected areas, it would start at 7 AM and conclude at 4 PM, the State Election Commission said.

The election was being held for 179 ZPTCs, for which 805 candidates, including 162 independents, were in the fray.

For 1850 MPTCs, 6,146 candidates were in the fray.

Unanimous elections had earlier been held for 63 MPTCs and one ZPTC seat.

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 were eligible to exercise their franchise in the elections to two upper tiers of local bodies.

The elections were 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.