The counting of votes for the high-stake civic body polls in Haryana will be held on Wednesday which is set to raise the political temperature in the State.
The polling was held on December 16 for the seats of mayor and members of all wards of five municipal corporations including Hisar, Rohtak, Yamunanagar, Panipat and Karnal and of two municipal committees including Jakhal Mandi (Fatehabad) and Pundri (Kaithal).
State Election Commissioner, Haryana, Dalip Singh on Tuesday said that counting of votes of these municipalities shall be held on December 19 at 8 am at the places specified by the Deputy Commissioner concerned and result will be declared immediately after the completion of counting.
Singh said that arrangements have been made for the counting of votes.
He said that a total of 59 candidates (40 male and 19 female) contested the election of the seats of Mayor and 592 candidates (322 male and 270 female) contested the election for the seats of member, Corporation from all the wards of 5 MCs. A total of 89 candidates (35 male and 54 female) contested the election of the seats of member municipal Committee, Jakhal Mandiand Pundri, he said.
Ahead of next year's Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, prestige is at stake for ruling BJP, which contested the civic polls on party symbol. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his Cabinet Colleagues had campaigned extensively for the party nominees in these polls.
In a first, the mayors of the five municipal corporations will be elected directly. Earlier, the councillors used to elect the mayor.
Also, the Haryana Election Commission has decided to treat 'none of the above' or NOTA option as a "fictional candidate" in the municipal polls, making it a must for winning candidates to secure more votes than those cast for NOTA.
While BJP contested from all the seats of Mayor and of 107 wards of Municipal Corporations, BSP from 1 seat of Mayor i.e. Yamunanagar, CPI (M) contested from one seat of Mayor i.e. Rohtak and INLD contested the election from 3 seats of Mayor i.e. from Hisar, Panipat & Rohtak. Except the ruling BJP, no other party contested the election for the seats of member in Corporation on party symbol.
Notably, the poll percentage had remained 62.7 percent in the Municipal Corporation Hisar, 61.8 percent in Municipal Corporation Karnal, 62 per cent in Municipal Corporation Panipat, 62.4 per cent in Municipal Corporation Rohtak and 65.2 per cent in Municipal Corporation Yamuna Nagar.
Similarly, in Jakhal Mandi 89.5 per cent voting was registered and 82.1 per cent in Pundri. The overall percentage in these elections remained 69.39
