Ahead of next year’s Assembly polls in Punjab, there would be another election for local bodies on February 14 which could reflect the public mood and set the tone for the Assembly elections.
Punjab State Election Office on Saturday said that Elections to eight municipal corporations and 109 municipal councils and nagar panchayats in Punjab will be held on February 14. The counting of votes would take place on February 17, state elections commissioner, Punjab, Jagpal Singh Sandhu said.
With the announcement of the poll schedule, the model code of conduct has come into force with immediate effect within the municipal areas of the municipalities where elections will be held, Sandhu said. The code of conduct would be in force till the completion of the electoral process, he added. The process for filing nominations would commence on January 30 and the last date for the same would be February 3.
The nominations would be scrutinised on February 4 while the date of withdrawal of nominations is February 5, which would also be the date of allotting the election symbols to the candidates, Sandhu said. Election campaigning will end at 5 pm on February 12.
The voting would be held on February 14 from 8 am to 4 pm. The counting of votes would take place on February 17.
A total of 145 returning officers and 145 assistant returning officers would be appointed for conducting the elections. A total of 30 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Provincial Civil Service (PCS) officers would be appointed election observers and six Indian Police Service (IPS) officers will be appointed police observers to ensure peaceful, free and fair conduct of polls, he said.
Sandhu said 400 members would be elected for eight municipal corporations and 1,902 members would be elected for 109 municipal councils/nagar panchayats in the state. Fifty per cent reservation has been given for women in municipal elections as per the Punjab government instructions.
There are 20,49,777 male, 18,65,354 female and 149 transgender voters, totalling 39,15,280 registered voters in Punjab for these elections. Sandhu said 4,102 polling booths would be established and 18,000 personnel will be put on election duty.
Around 7,000 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) have been arranged for the polling.
The State Election Commission further said that the expenditure limit for a candidate of municipal corporation has been fixed as Rs 3 lakh, for candidate of Municipal Council Class-I, Rs 2.70 lakh, Class-II Rs 1.70 lakh, Class-III Rs 1.45 lakh and candidates for nagar panchayats Rs 1.05 lakh. For taking preventive measures for Covid-19, Rs 1.65 crore has been allocated to provide masks, sanitisers, and gloves to be used by the staff deployed for election duty, he said.
