For December 30 elections to 13276 panchayats in Punjab, a total of 48,111 nomination papers have been filed for the post of Sarpanches and 1,62,383 for the post of panches.
In all 13,276 sarpanches and 83,831 panches would be elected for 13,276 panchayats.
“The date for withdrawal of the nominations would be December 21, Friday, which would also be the date for allotting the election symbols to the candidates,” said the spokesperson of the State Election Commissioner on Thursday.
Spokesperson said that the voting would be held on December 30 from 8 am till 4 pm and counting of votes would be held the same day after concluding polling of votes.
“There are total 1,27,87,395 registered voters in the state for panchayat elections, out of which 66,88,245 are male, 60,66,245 female and 97 third gender voters. State Election Commission has set up 17,268 polling booths and 86,340 personnel will be deputed on election duty,” he said.
Elaborating more, he said that the expenditure limit for a candidate contesting for the post of Sarpanch has been fixed at Rs 30,000 whereas the limit for those contesting for post of Panch has been fixed at Rs 20,000.
SAD QUESTIONS POLLS PANEL’S FIGURES
SAD on Thursday wrote to the State Election Commission questioning its figures that only 9,700 aspirants have filed nominations for the post of village sarpanches for 13,726 such posts – one for each village.
The party urged the SEC to immediately release the correct figures to dispel all myths emanating from the scenario.
“If the initial figures released by the State Election Commission are any indication, the ongoing panchayat elections are going to be a farce of its kind on the democratic process,” said SAD senior vice president and former minister Daljit Singh Cheema.
Cheema said: “Evidently, for hundreds of village sarpanch posts, there are no takers...There is practically no competition for the coveted post of village headman in highly politicized state of Punjab.”
“The situation is far worse in case of election of panches. For nearly 85,000 odd posts, there are only 27,000 aspirants in the fray. Obviously, for at least two-third posts, there are no takers,” he said.
Cheema averred that such figures cannot be taken on the face value “but everything is possible in bizarre world of Punjab politics and polls being conducted by the SEC”.
AAP MEETS SEC, ALLEGES CONG’s WRONGDOINGS
Aam Aadmi Party delegation, led by chief spokesperson and MLA Prof Baljinder Kaur, on Thursday called on Punjab’s State Election Commissioner to raise the issue of “wrongdoings being committed by the Congress leaders” in the process of Panchayat elections.
Prof Baljinder said that the government officials are hand-in-glove with Congress leaders and rejecting the nomination papers of candidates belonging to opposition parties.
She also alleged that the government has even implemented a faulty reservation policy to benefit the Congress candidates.
The delegation demanded to extend the date of nomination filing so that the candidates belonging to opposition parties, whose papers were rejected without any reason, can file it again. “It is the duty of election commission to reinstall the faith of people in democracy, and thus it is needed to give all candidates an equal playing field,” she said.