Political parties may or may not give adequate representation to women in upcoming local bodies elections, but the Election Commission of India (ECI) has given special concessions to women and reserved category candidates in purchasing nomination forms of different posts of the local civic bodies.
Whereas according to the guidelines of the ECI, the cost of nomination form for the post of mayor for a general category candidate is Rs 800 with Rs 12,000 as security fees, reserved category and women candidates have to pay only Rs 400 for purchase of a nomination form for the same mayor seat with Rs 6,000 as security fees.
Meanwhile, with Rs 4,000 as security fees, the cost of nomination form for the post of the councillor of a municipal corporation has been fixed as Rs 400 for a general category candidate, while reserved category and woman candidates have to pay only Rs 200 to purchase a nomination form for the councillor seat of a municipal corporation with Rs 2000 as security fees.
The cost of the nomination form for the municipal council chairman seat has been fixed as Rs 500 with Rs 6,000 as security fees for a general category candidate, the reserved category and woman candidates will have to pay only Rs 250 to purchase nomination form for the same post of the chairman of the municipal council with Rs 3,000 as security fees, as the officials concerned informed.
Similarly, candidates of the general category seeking election of member of the municipal council have to pay Rs 200 to purchase nomination form with Rs 1,500 as security fees, the cost of the nomination form of the member of the municipal council for the reserved category and woman candidates has been fixed as Rs 100 with Rs 750 as security fees, the officials concerned added.
According to the guidelines of the ECI, the general category candidate seeking election as the chairman of the nagar panchayat has to pay Rs 200 for a nomination form with security fees Rs 3,000, while the cost of the nomination form for the same post is only Rs 100 with Rs 1,500 as security fees for the reserved category and woman candidates.
Thus, the general category candidates seeking election as member of the nagar panchayat have to pay Rs 100 for purchasing a nomination form with Rs 600 as security fees in this regard, while the reserved category and woman candidates seeking election as the members of the nagar panchayat have to pay only Rs 300 as security fees.
As the nomination process has begun, Dheeraj Singh Garbyal, CDO, Udham Singh Nagar, has directed all the Returning Officers and Assistant Returning Officers to ensure free and fair elections.
He also asked the officials concerned not to allow candidates to misuse public properties for publicity purpose during the ongoing local bodies elections.