State Election Commission: the viral local-body timetable is fake, and no schedule decision has been taken.

The viral timetable is fake. The Commission has not taken a schedule decision.

On Monday, 24 August 2026, the Andhra Pradesh State Election Commission warned the public against fake and misleading information being circulated on social media groups regarding dates and a schedule for elections to rural and urban local bodies. State Election Commissioner Anil Chandra Punetha said no decision on the election schedule has been taken yet. That is the Monday lock. This desk will print that line and will not invent a nomination date, a polling date, or a counting date that the Commission has not notified.

Unauthorised messages were being circulated in the name of government departments and organisations, with official emblems used without permission. The circulation led to several calls to the Commission seeking clarification. Punetha clarified that the election dates and schedules being circulated through social media groups were fake, unauthenticated and not genuine. He appealed to the public not to believe, circulate or share such unverified information.

He said strict action would be taken under applicable cyber laws and rules against those found deliberately creating, circulating or propagating false or misleading information. All genuine official information, he said, would be communicated only through an official communication or a media conference. Punetha’s words on unofficial sources were: “Information issued through unofficial sources or social media platforms should not be treated as authentic.” The public and the media should rely only on official communications and await the formal announcement for any information on the election schedule.

The same Commission line was repeated on other Monday public desks: Punetha said the viral timetable has not been issued by the Commission, and that official channels only would carry a genuine schedule. This desk records that corroboration. It will not use it as a licence to reprint the WhatsApp dates.

What this card will not do must be said in one place. It will not reprint any viral nomination or poll date. Form B has not been notified. No local-body poll calendar sits on this Monday Commission statement. An earlier High Court intention about an October-end window remains an earlier-card line. It is not a Monday State Election Commission gazette. This desk will not convert a High Court intention into a notified Form B, and it will not treat a viral graphic as a schedule.

Readers who want a ward list, a reservation roster, a nomination window, or a polling day will not find those papers here. They will find a warning. The warning is the news. The fake timetable is not.

Vijayawada and Amaravati hold the Commission geography. Form B is not notified. No poll date is notified.

Until the Commission issues an official communication or calls a media conference, the public ledger is a Monday statement by Anil Chandra Punetha that the circulating local-body timetable is fake, unauthenticated and not genuine; that no decision on the election schedule has been taken yet; that unofficial messages used department names and emblems without permission; that cyber-law action is held out against those who create or propagate the false schedule; and that genuine information will come only through official communication or a media conference. Do not share the viral dates. The Commission has not written them.