Panchayat elections, which are already delayed by seven months, are expected to be held in a few days after the counting of votes for the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections is completed. The counting will be taken up on May 23 and, irrespective of which party forms the government, officials expect the process for local body elections to commence soon after, and have started making preparations in that direction.
“The district officials have received orders to prepare voters’ lists, and the process is going on,” said Prabhakar Rao, District Panchayat Officer. Elections would be held in 909 villages in the district. The number of villages has increased from 889 after G.O 63 came into effect.
With the G.O declaring that any ‘thanda’ (hamlet) with a population of at least 500 will be considered a village, 20 more villages have been added to the list in the district.
The voters’ list is expected to be published by May 10, and soon after ward divisions and reservations would be made. The number of voters in Kurnool district is about 19.28 lakh, but it is expected to increase once the lists are made.
Of the 909 gram panchayats, 34 are major panchayats located in the three revenue divisions – Kurnool, Nandyal and Adoni.