The fate of 1,268 candidates for six municipal corporations of Punjab will be sealed in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) for another three days after their elections on February 22. Punjab State Election Commission, citing security concerns, has decided to conduct the counting of votes of six municipal corporation elections along with by-elections of three wards of two Municipal Corporations on February 26 — three days after the polling day.
“The election of 300 wards of six Municipal Corporations of Moga, Bathinda, Mohali, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot and Phagwara, and the by-elections of three wards of two Municipal Corporations of Patiala and Jalandhar would be conducted on February 22, and the counting of votes would be held on February 26 at 10 am,” said the state election commissioner SS Brar on Wednesday.
He said that the concerned Deputy Commissioners have been asked to identify the strong rooms, and make adequate arrangements. “The decision has been taken from security point of view, and considering the long time it would take to count the votes, he added. Earlier, the counting of votes was held on the same day of polling.
Brar said that for the elections of 122 Municipal Councils or Nagar Pachayats and by-election of one ward of Nagar Pachayat Bariwala, polling would be conducted on February 25, and the counting of votes would be held on the same day soon after the close of poll at the station.
“The canvassing for municipal corporations would end on the evening of February 20, and for municipal councils and nagar panchayats on February 23,” he said. In all, 1,268 candidates are in fray for the corporation elections whereas four candidates have been elected unopposed. For councils and nagar panchayats, 7,006 candidates, including one transgender, are in the fray and 160 candidates have been elected unopposed.
“The Commission is fully prepared for the municipal elections in the state as the election arrangement have been completed,” said Brar, who was addressing the media along with the state additional director general of police (ADGP), for Elections CSR Reddy. Brar said that for the smooth and impartial conduct of election 66 election observers have been deputed. He said that Rs5.50 crore is estimated expenditure for the elections. “Total 3,600 EVMs will be used for the polling process,” he said.
ADGP Reddy said that 309 polling station have been set up for the municipal corporation elections out of which, 43 are hypersensitive while 235 sensitive. Similarly, for the election of Municipal Councils or Nagar Pachayats, 1,486 polling stations have been set up, among which, 163 are hyper sensitive and 940 have been marked as sensitive. “Bathinda has the maximum hypersensitive polling stations as it has both corporation and council,” he said.
Giving details regarding the deployment of the police force, Reddy said that around 19,616 police personnel have been deployed on election duty. “Out of this number, 3,927 are for Municipal Corporation election and 15,689 would be deployed during Municipal Councils or Nagar Pachayat elections,” he said.
“For each district nodal officers are being deputed for ensuring security,” he added. Reddy also informed that 10,407 licensed fire arms have so far been have deposited by the owners in the municipal areas where elections are to be held. He said that the election expenditure per candidate is fixed between the range of Rs2.7 lakh to Rs1.85 lakh.
ENQUIRY ON IN GURU-HAR-SAHAI ISSUE
Brar made it clear that the Commission would consider the Congress party’s demand only after the enquiry into the issue related the Guru-Har-Sahai completed. Fifteen candidates were being elected unopposed in Guru Harshai Nagar Council amid Congress’ claiming that their candidates were not allowed to file nomination papers, and is demanding restarting of election process. “It is under investigation whether the election should be held or not,” he said.
100 COMPlAINTS RECEIVED
The Commission has, so far, received around 100 complaints including the complaints regarding Government officials interfering on the electoral process, against police officials, related to electoral rolls. “The complaints are of not serious nature...These include official interference in the election process, name deletion from voters list and police interference,” he said.
SAD EXPElS ANOTHER 24 REBElS
Adopting zero tolerance policy towards indiscipline in the party, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Wednesday shown the door to another 24 rebels. “To maintain discipline in the party in an effective manner, SAD president Sukhbir Badal today decided to remove some more rebel candidates contesting municipal elections against the official candidates from the primary membership of the party,” said the party secretary and spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema.
He said that the lists of these “rebel candidates” were sent by the District Observers and party’s district presidents to the SAD chief. As per the list, the party removed four rebels for contesting polls against party nominees in Sanaur nagar council, two from Nabha Nagar Council, one from Rajpura Nagar Council, three from Adampur Nagar Council including former MC president. In Budhlada Nagar Council, the party expels two, Chaoke Nagar Panchayat three, Jandiala Guru Nagar Council three, Raikot Nagar Council two. The party removes two from Mohali Municipal Corporation, and two from Phagwara Municipal Corporation.
BJP EXPElS 10 MORE lEADERS FOR SIX YEARS
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also axed another 10 dissenters from the party for another six years for “anti-party” activities taking the total tally of expelled leader to 53. Only a day before, the party had shown the door to a total of 43 party leaders hailing from Moga, Bathinda, Phagwara and Hoshiarpur for not withdrawing their candidature against the official nominee of the SAD-BJP combine for municipal corporation polls despite repeated warnings. BJP, on Wednesday, expelled seven from Nangal municipal council, one each from municipal council of Samana, Raiya, and Sunam.