The notification for the Municipal elections is expected to be released on Monday, the 15th of February. The Andhra Pradesh government has officially submitted a letter to the SEC, stating that it has no objection to conducting the municipal elections right now. However, given that protocols do not allow for the release of a new notification while the local elections are still going on, it is expected that the SEC will release the new notification for the municipal elections on Monday.
It is still unclear whether the municipal elections will be conducted from the scratch, or if they will be picked up from where they were left off. The SEC is only mostly concentrating on those areas where unanimous decisions have been made, regarding the nomination of a candidate. So it is being believed that the SEC will give some gap between nominations and campaign, and complete the elections.
In case the SEC is unable to release the notification on the 15th, the notification is expected to be released on the 17th. On the other hand, political parties are directly involved in municipal elections, with candidates directly representing parties and party symbols being used for polling.
This would definitely make the municipal elections all the more heated and political, so much more than the local elections. The local elections, despite having nothing to do with political parties, have become a huge political issue in the state, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see the municipal elections take place on a much more heated note. The YSRCP has already finished campaigning for the municipal elections, and it is now to be seen how these elections will turn out to be.