Elections to 15 urban civic bodies in Chhattisgarh on December 20: SEC

The elections to 15 urban bodies in Chhattisgarh, including four municipal corporations, in ten districts will be held on December 20, the State Election Commission said on Wednesday. Besides, the bypolls for 17 wards in 16 civic bodies will also be conducted on that day.

With the announcement of the polls, the model code of conduct has come into force in these local governing bodies, State Election Commissioner (SEC) Thakur Ramsingh said in a press conference here.

"General elections in 15 urban bodies, including four municipal corporations, five municipal councils and 6 Nagar Panchayats and the bypolls in 17 wards in 16 civic bodies will be held on December 20," he said.

The general elections will be held in Birgaon (40 wards- Raipur district), Bhilai (70 wards-Durg ), Risali (40 wards- Durg), and Bhilai-Charauda (40 wards-Durg) municipal corporations.

The municipal councils to go to the polls are Khairagarh (20 wards- Rajnandgaon), Baikunthpur (20 wards- Korea), Shivpurcharcha (15 wards- Korea), Sarangarh (15 wards- Raigarh), and Jamul (20 wards- Durg) municipal councils.

The six Nagar Panchayats to go to polls are Bhairamgarh (15 wards- Bijapur), Bhopalpatnam (15 wards- Bijapur), Narharpur (15 wards- Kanker), Maro (15 wards- Bemetara), Prem Nagar (15 wards- Surajpur) and Konta (15 wards- Sukma).

The process of filing nominations for the polls will begin on November 27. The last date of filing the nominations is December 3. The scrutiny of nomination forms will be done the next day. Candidates can withdraw their names from the fray till December 6, he said. The nomination processes will be held online.

Voting will be held on December 20 from 8 am to 5 pm. Counting of votes will be taken up on December 23, he added.

For general elections that will be held in 370 wards of 15 civic bodies, 7,78,420 voters including 3,87,530 men, 3,90,843 women voters and 47 third gender voters, are eligible to exercise their franchise, for which 1,000 polling stations will be set up, the SEC said.

Similarly, for the bypolls in the wards, 26,896 voters, including 13,225 male, 13,668 female and 4 third gender voters, are eligible to cast their votes for which 37 polling stations will be formed, he added.

Elaborate security arrangements will be made at all the polling stations to ensure fair and peaceful polling, Thakur said.

Polling will be held through ballot papers. The elections will be held on party lines in all the civic bodies, he added. The SEC has allowed 18 different identity cards for the elections this time.

The arrangements are being made for candidates to file online nominations (ONNO) to avoid technical errors in the nomination papers. After filing the online nominations, candidates will have to submit their printout to the returning officer within the stipulated date of filing of the nomination, he added.

Three municipal corporations and one municipal council that will go to the polls fall in Durg, the home district of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. Talking to reporters in Jagdalpur after the announcement of the poll schedule, Baghel said Congress is fully prepared for local body polls and will win them. “The way we (Congress) won all ten municipal corporations last time, we will emerge victorious this time too,” Baghel said.

Congress had won Mayor's posts in all the 10 municipal corporations in Chhattisgarh for which election was held in December 2019. Corporators elect mayors in municipal corporations and chairpersons of other civic bodies from among them.

Meanwhile, the opposition BJP said it will fight the civic body polls with its full strength. The saffron party said the people will give a befitting reply to the ruling Congress for its “wrong policies”.

“BJP will fight the civic body polls with its full strength. A series of defeat will begin for Congress with these elections and the arrogance of its leaders will be shattered,” Chhattisgarh BJP chief Vishnudeo Sai said.

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