Gram Panchayat polls next month in Maharashtra

Amid heightened political activities in Maharashtra, the political parties and fronts would face a litmus test next month when 7,751 Gram Panchayat would go to polls.

The Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) announced the poll schedule for the local bodies polls.

State Election Commissioner U P S Madan announced that voting in 7,751 Gram Panchayats (GP) and elections of their respective Chairpersons would be held on December 18.

The polling will be conducted for the GPs whose terms are expiring in 34 of the state's 36 districts between October-December 2022.

The results shall be declared on December 20.

The polls would cover all the regions of the state - Konkan, Western Maharashtra, North Maharashtra, Marathwada, and Vidarbha.

According to the schedule, the nomination papers can be filed from November 18, scrutiny will be done on December 5 while the last date for withdrawal would be December 7 along with the distribution of election symbols to the candidates.

According to the SEC, voting will be held on December 18 from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm.

However, in Maoist-affected areas, voting will end at 3 pm.

The number of GPs going to polls are Beed (704(, Kolhapur (475), Sangli (452) Bhandara (363), Latur (351), Gondia (348), Sindhudurg (325) Satara (319), Washim (287), Buldana (279), Akola (266), Jalna (266), Amravati (257), Raigad (240), Nagpur (237), Ratnagiri (222), Pune (221), Aurangabad (219), Ahmednagar ( 203), Nashik (196), Solapur (189), Nanded (181), Osmanabad (166), Jalgaon (140), Dhule (128), Parbhani (128), Nandurbar (123), Wardha (113), Yavatmal (100), Palghar (63), Hingoli (62), Chandrapur (59), Thane (42), and Gadchiroli (27).