All set for 2 TP and TMC elections today

The elections to Kotekar and Vittal Town Panchayats in Dakshina Kannada and Kaup TMC in Udupi will be held on December 27.

The local administration has made all arrangements for the elections in both districts.

There are 17 wards in Kotekar TP and 45 candidates are in the fray. Both Congress and BJP have fielded their candidates in all the 17 wards, while SDPI is contesting for six wards and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has fielded its candidates from two wards.

In the last elections held after Kotekar was upgraded to Town Panchayat, the BJP had bagged nine seats, the Congress four and independents had bagged two seats. In addition, the CPM and the SDPI had shared one seat each.

The BJP is trying to retain its hold over the panchayat for the second term and the Congress is also making efforts to increase its seats to come back to power.

The Vittal Town Panchayat came into existence in 2015. There are 18 wards in it. In the previous term, in the council of the Town Panchayat, BJP had 12 seats while Congress had won six seats.

Kaup TMC has 23 wards and there are 23 polling booths. All the polling staff have been imparted training for the elections.

Of 23 booths, Kaipunjalu, Polipygudde, Kombagudde and Ahamadi Mohalla are hypersensitive booths.

There are eight sensitive booths and 11 general booths. As many as 77 police personnel have been deployed for the polling.

Kaup TMC office is the mustering and de-mustering centre and the counting will be held on December 30, said Tahsildar Srinivasmurthi Kulakarni.

In the 2016 elections, Congress had won the majority. There are 67 candidates in the fray.