18,721 panchayats in AP to go for polls to elect sarpanchs

Elections will be held for the office of sarpanch (village head) in 18,721 gram panchayats in the ongoing rural local body polls in Andhra Pradesh.
The total number of contesting candidates for the office of sarpanch is 57,858, official sources said.
As many as 2,642 sarpanchs have already been elected unopposed.
The gram panchayat elections, wherever required, will be held in three phases on July 23, 27 and 31.
The nominations were filed from July 7 to 13 and the last date for the withdrawal of candidature was July 17.
Andhra Pradesh has 21,592 gram panchayats, of which 21,491 are going to polls. The number of wards in the poll- bound gram panchayats stood at 2,17,578.

The counting of votes will be taken up on the day of polling itself.