The Election Commission announced on Tuesday the schedule for by-elections to 18 Assembly seats and the Nellore parliamentary seat, to be held on June 12. The vacancies were caused after Speaker Nadendla Manohar disqualified 16 legislators from the ruling Congress who had voted in favour of the no-confidence motion brought by the Telugu Desam on December 5 last year, and acceptance of the resignations by of Mr K. Chiranjeevi (Tirupati) and Ms Sobha Nagireddy (Allagadda).
Spate of polls since 2009
In May 2008, bypolls were conducted for 18 Assembly segments. But this time, in addition to 18 Assembly seats, there is also the Nellore parliamentary seat that is being contested. The elections are spread across 12 districts, which is unprecedented. Voters in the Udayagiri Assembly segment will have to exercise two votes, one for the Assembly bypoll and another for the Nellore Lok Sabha bypoll.
Schedule of byelections in the state
* Issue of notification and filing of nominations: May 18
* Last date of filing nominations: May 25
* Scrutiny of nominations: May 26
* Last date for withdrawal of nominations: May 28
* Date of polling: June 12
* Counting of votes: June 15