Nominations have started in 100 municipal bodies of the state from Friday. Nominations for the municipal elections can also be filed on December 29. The nomination process is to be held from today to December 30. Due to 29 December being a Sunday, there was confusion whether nominations would be held on this day or not. Now the State Election Commission has clarified the situation in this regard. Along with this, political activities have increased further regarding the small government to be formed in the cities. The ruling party BJP and the main opposition party Congress are putting all their strength to perform better in this election, while other political parties and independents are also preparing to compete.
Pressure on Congress to break into the fort of the ruling party
There is pressure on BJP to maintain its dominance in the bodies and on Congress to break into the fort of the ruling party. Both the parties, keeping a close eye on each other’s strategy, are struggling to select candidates. No party has been able to declare a candidate yet. The process of election in the municipal bodies which have been under the control of administrators for the past one year will begin with the filing of nomination papers from Friday. Voting will be held on January 23 and counting of votes will be held on January 25. Elections are to be held for the posts of Mayor and Chairman as well as Ward Members in 11 Municipal Corporations, 43 Municipal Councils and 46 Nagar Panchayats out of a total of 100 bodies. After the final notification of reservation was issued on Monday, the State Election Commission announced the election schedule. Elections are not held in the non-elected category Nagar Panchayats of Kedarnath, Gangotri and Badrinath. The Commission has not received the information about the re-delimitation of Nagar Palika Parishad Kichha and Narendranagar and the delimitation of the newly formed Nagar Panchayats Pati and Gadhinegi. Due to this, elections are being held in 100 out of a total of 107 municipal bodies.
There is a tussle between the two major parties over the selection of candidates for the prestigious posts of Mayor in 11 Municipal Corporations. The top leadership of both the parties in the state is busy brainstorming about the distribution of tickets in the bodies.
Election schedule
Nomination papers will be filed from today to 30 December from 10 am to 5 pm.
Nomination papers will be scrutinized from 10 am to 4 pm on 31 December and 1 January.
Nominations can be withdrawn from 10 am to 4 pm on 2 January.
Election symbols will be allotted from 10 am to 3 pm on 3 January.
Voting will be held from 8 am to 5 pm on 23 January.
Counting of votes will begin from 8 am on 25 January.
A glance
Total voters in the bodies are 30,63,143
14,82,809 female voters
15,79,789 male voters
545 other voters
There are 1518 polling stations in the bodies
