Term of office of members

(1) Save as otherwise provided in this Act the term of office of members elected at ordinary elections shall be five years from the date appointed by the Commissioner for the first meeting of the gram panchayat after the ordinary elections. (2) Ordinary vacancies in the office of elected members shall be filled at ordinary elections which shall be fixed by the State Election Commission to take place on such day or days within three months before the occurrence of the vacancies, as he thinks fit: Provided that the Andhra Pradesh Election Commissioner for Local Bodies may, for sufficient reasons to be recorded in writing, direct from time to time, the postponement or alteration of the date of an ordinary election or any stage thereof within the period of three months aforesaid and the election authority shall give effect to such direction. (3)(a) Every casual vacancy in the office of an elected member of a gram panchayat shall be reported by the executive authority to the election authority within fifteen days from the date of occurrence of such vacancy and shall be filled within four months from that date. (b) A member elected in a casual vacancy shall enter upon office forthwith but shall hold office only so long as the member in whose place he is elected would have been entitled to hold office if the vacancy had not occurred. (c) No casual election shall be held to a gram panchayat within six months before the date on which the term of office of its members expires by efflux of time.