As many as eight Urban local Bodies (UlB) will go to polls on Tuesday to elect new members to respective local bodies for the next five-years and bolster democratic institutions at grass-root level. As polling is likely to begin from 8 am, the State Election Commission (SEC) is all geared up to discharge its responsibility for facilitating tertiary democratic setup.
Although elections for UlBs are held every year, this elections marks the introduction of NOTA (None Of the Above) and hence in a way bringing all forms of democracy under the empowering provision of NOTA.
“Preparation for conducting elections to 8 UlBs had been started shortly after conducting election for the post of Mayor of Ranchi Municipal Corporation in previous year,” said State Election Commissioner, Shiv Basant.
As many as 12,28,608 voters (6,76,874 Male and 5,51,734 Female) will cast their votes in elections which will be held at 1381 polling stations across the UlBs and three municipal wards of Ranchi Municipal Corporation, Medininagar Nagar Parishad and Mihijam Nagar Panchayat. In total, voting will take place at 229 wards across 10 districts.
As the political battle will add to the ongoing heat waves, the SEC has directed all district administrations to make better arrangements for voters to cope them with the latter and erect temporary shades besides making arrangements of proper drinking water so as to encourage voters to turn in great numbers.
“Those who will join the queue till 5pm will be allowed to vote irrespective of the time,” maintained Basant.
Notably, the UlBs to go to elections are Dhanbad, Deoghar and Chas (newly formed) besides five municipal councils—Kodarma, Jhumri Tilaiya, Vishrampur, Manjhiaon, and Chakradharpur. Of all the UlBs going to polls on Tuesday, Dhanbad is largest in terms of number of voters whereas Manjhiaon is the smallest.
Significantly, around 10 companies of JAP have been deployed for the elections and the State police vowed to play its role in conducting free and fair civic elections at 728 buildings and 1381 polling stations.
“Police forces have been deployed at all places and we have fulfilled the expectations of district administration for conducting free and fair polls,” said ADG, SN Pradhan.