RANCHI: As many as 41 ward councillors have been elected unopposed ahead of the upcoming civic polls in Jharkhand, while three wards remained vacant due to non-filing of nominations, an election official said on Wednesday.
Civic polls to 48 urban local bodies (ULB) will be held on February 23, while votes will be counted on February 27.
Elections are scheduled for the posts of 48 mayors or chairpersons and councillors in 1,087 wards across nine municipal corporations, 20 nagar parishads and 19 nagar panchayats.
"A total of 41 councillors have been elected unopposed after receiving a single nomination from their respective wards," State Election Commission (SEC) secretary Radhe Shyam Prasad told PTI.
He said three wards remained vacant because no nominations were received.
"No nomination was received from wards 5 and 11 in Domchanch Nagar Panchayat (Koderma) and ward 22 in Mango Municipal Corporation in Jamshedpur," Prasad said.
The nomination process began on January 29 and concluded on February 4, while the withdrawal of nominations ended on February 6.
As many as 562 candidates, including 235 women, are in the fray for the posts of mayor or chairperson.
For ward councillors, 5,569 candidates, including 2,727 women, are contesting, he said.
Over 43.33 lakh voters, including 21.26 lakh women, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the elections.
ULB polls in Jharkhand are not contested on electoral symbols of political parties, but candidates are backed by the outfits.
A total of 4,304 polling booths have been set up for the elections, of which 896 have been identified as hyper-sensitive and 2,445 as sensitive.