In what is being billed as the semi-final to gauge the public mood before the next year’s lok Sabha elections, polling for the election of councillors of seven municipal corporations and two municipal committees in Haryana will take place on Sunday.
The municipal elections are being held in Ambala, Panchkula, Karnal, Panipat, Hisar, Rohtak and Yamuna Nagar (all municipal corporations) and Farukh Nagar (Gurgaon) and Kalanaur (Rohtak), Haryana’s State Election Commissioner Dharam Vir said.
“In all, 1,686 candidates are contesting elections for 144 wards of seven corporations. There are about 17.08 lakh voters in these corporations. For conducting elections, 1,686 polling stations have been set up. About 9,000 officials would be deployed to conduct these elections,” he said.
The Election Commissioner said that elaborate arrangements for the conduct of free and fair elections and to maintain the law and order have been made. “There would be heavy deployment of police force to maintain law and order at the polling stations and sensitive areas,” he added.
All the political parties in the State are taking these elections as semi-final before the lok Sabha elections 2014. Though Congress is not contesting these elections on party symbol yet it is facing tough fight due to internal differences of several senior Congress leaders.
The counting of votes for municipal committees would be held immediately after voting while the results for municipal corporations will be out June 4.