Gujarat local bodies to go to polls in February

Elections to six municipalcorporations in Gujarat will take place on February 21 and to81 municipalities, 31 district panchayats and 231 talukapanchayats on February 28, state election commission said onSaturday.

Counting of votes for the six municipal corporationswill take place on February 23, and for the 81 municipalities,31 district panchayats and 231 taluka panchayats on March 2.

The ruling BJP expressed confidence about winningthese polls, while the opposition Congress said it would mounta legal challenge on poll authorities announcing two separatedays for counting of votes.

The six municipal corporations to go to polls areAhmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar.

''Polls in six municipal corporations will be held onFebruary 21 and counting of votes will take place on February23. Polls will take place in the 81 municipalities, 31district panchayats and 231 taluka panchayats on February 28and results will be declared on March 2,'' Gujarat ElectionCommissioner Sanjay Prasad said.

The last date to file nominations for the municipalcorporation elections will be February 6, while it will beFebruary 13 for the other set of polls, he said at a pressconference here, adding that the model code of conduct hadcome into force immediately.

These polls were to be held in October-November lastyear but were pushed back due to the coronavirus outbreak, andPrasad reiterated it would be conducted with strict adherenceto all health protocols in place.

He said standard operating procedures (SOPs) for thepolls will be declared soon, and five meetings on this issuehad been held so far with the state health department.

EVMs will be used for the polls, of which the SEC hasadequate numbers, but the VVPAT mechanism will not bedeployed, Prasad informed.

A total of 47,695 booths will be set up for the polls,of which over 6,000 have been marked sensitive, and 4.2 crorevoters are eligible to vote for 574 corporators in sixcorporations, 2,720 representatives in 81 municipalities, and9,049 representatives in district and taluka panchayats, hesaid.

In reply to a query on the counting of votes of themunicipal corporations and other local bodies being kept ontwo separate days, Prasad said the SEC had followed thetradition laid down earlier, and added that the coronavirusoutbreak and resultant protocols had made it difficult to holdcounting of votes for different polls at the same time.

Meanwhile, state Congress spokesperson Manish Doshiexpressed his party's displeasure at the counting of votes ofthe six municipal corporations being held earlier.

''We will legally challenge the early declaration ofresults of six municipal corporations as they will influencelater elections,'' Doshi said.

On the other hand, BJP Municipal Board chairpersonDhansukh Bhanderi said his party was confident of a win inthese polls due to public support.

Apart from the BJP and Congress, mainstays of thestate's political theatre for several decades now, partieslike the AIMIM and AAP have also said they would fight localbodies' polls this time.