On the last day of campaigning for elections to 29 municipal corporations, State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare on Tuesday kickstarted the third phase of local body polls by announcing elections to 12 zilla parishads and 125 panchayat samitis on February 5. The counting will be held on February 7.
The SEC’s announcement comes after the Supreme Court on Monday allowed its plea seeking an extension to hold these elections beyond the January 31 deadline set by the apex court. The poll panel had sought an extension till February 10 but the court gave time till February 15, asking the SEC to complete the polls to 12 zilla parishads and 125 panchayat samitis, where the 50 per cent reservation limit has not been breached.
A total of 2.09 crore people will vote in this election out of which 1.07 crore are male, 1.02 crore are female and others are 473. The districts where the elections will take place are Pune, Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Kolhapur, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Parbhani, Dharashiv and Latur.
As per the schedule, notification for the poll will be issued on January 16. The period of filing nominations is from January 16 to 21. The scrutiny will be on January 22 while the withdrawal of nominations is allowed till 3 pm, January 27. The final candidate list and distribution of symbols will be done after 3.30 pm.
“We have identified 5,63,072 duplicate voters in ZP elections,” said Waghmare.
The total number of seats in ZPs are 731 out of which 369 are reserved for women, Scheduled Caste (83), Scheduled Tribes (25), OBCs (191). Total seats in Panchayat Samiti are 1,462. Out of these, 731 are reserved for women, SC (166), ST (38) and OBC (342). Waghmare said that each voter will have to vote twice, once for ZP and second time for Panchayat Samiti.
At present, elections to 32 zilla parishads and 336 panchayat samitis are pending across the state. Out of these, 20 zilla parishads and 211 panchayat samitis exceed the 50 per cent reservation cap and their elections will take place depending on the top court’s order. As a result, the SEC has prioritised the 12 districts and 125 panchayat samitis that fall within the permissible legal reservation limits.
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Out of the total 34 zilla parishads, 32 are being overseen by administrators, except for Bhandara and Gondia. The term of these two civic bodies will expire in May 2027. Of the total 351 panchayat samitis across Maharashtra, 336 – where elections are to be held – are run by administrators.
