Gandhinagar, April 1 (IANS) The Gujarat State Election Commission, on Wednesday, announced the schedule for local body elections across the state, with polling to be held on April 26 and counting of votes on April 28, initiating one of the largest grassroots electoral exercises.
State Election Commissioner S. Murali Krishna said the nomination process will begin on April 6 and continue until April 11.
Scrutiny of nomination papers will be conducted on April 13, while the last date for withdrawal of candidature is April 15.
“Nominations will be filed from April 6. The last date for filing nominations will be April 11. Scrutiny of nominations will take place on April 13. Voting will be held from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.,” he said, adding that repolling, if necessary, will take place on April 27.
The Model Code of Conduct has come into force with immediate effect from April 1 and will remain in place until the completion of the election process, restricting new policy announcements and government programmes during this period.
The entire process is scheduled to conclude by April 30.
Elections will be conducted for 15 municipal corporations, 84 municipalities, 34 district panchayats and 260 taluka panchayats.
In total, 9,011 seats will be contested across these local bodies, along with 13 by-election seats in municipalities, taking the overall number of seats involved in the exercise to 9,992.
Seat distribution includes 1,044 seats in municipal corporations, 2,624 in municipalities, around 1,090 in district panchayats and 5,234 in taluka panchayats.
Among the 17 municipal corporations in the state, elections will be held in 15, with two excluded in this cycle.
Polls will also take place in 84 municipalities, including seven newly formed local bodies, while several others have undergone delimitation.
At the district level, 34 district panchayats, including the newly formed Vav–Tharad district, will go to the polls, with many having undergone fresh delimitation.
At the taluka level, elections will be held in 260 out of 263 panchayats, as polls in three talukas have already been completed.
A large number of Assembly constituencies across tiers have been redrawn under updated delimitation arrangements.
The electorate is estimated at around 4.19 crore voters, including nearly 2.16 crore male voters and more than 2.02 crore female voters.
Of these, about 1.10 crore voters are from municipal corporation areas, 33.66 lakh from municipalities, and more than 2.74 crore from taluka panchayats.
Polling will be conducted using Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), with multi-EVM systems deployed for municipal corporation elections and single machines for district and taluka-level polls.
The election notification has been issued, formally commencing the process from April 1.
The elections will also implement a rotation system for reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBC), including a provision reserving seven district panchayat president posts for OBC candidates.
The Commission said that necessary arrangements are being put in place to ensure the smooth and transparent conduct of the elections.
–IANS
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