Polling to 122 MCs, Nagar Panchayats in Punjab

Polling to 122 Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats to take place in Punjab, all the arrangements have been completed for the smooth election conduct.

CHANDIGARH: Polling to 122 Municipal Councils and Nagar Panchayats will take place tomorrow in Punjab and all the arrangements have been completed for the smooth conduct of elections, an official said today.

Nearly 28.50 lakh voters will exercise their franchise and decide the fate of 7,006 candidates who are in the fray.

Besides polling in 122 municipal councils and Nagar Panchayats, the by-elections of one ward of Nagar Panchayat Bariwala would also take place tomorrow, said Shivinder Singh Brar, State Election Commissioner.

For the election in 2,062 wards of Municipal Councils and Nagar Panchayat, a total of 1,486 polling stations and 3,170 polling booths have been set up, he said.

160 candidates have been elected unopposed, which include 56 from Bathinda, 25 from Ferozepur and 13 from Mohali.

Polling will start at 8 AM and will end at 5 PM shortly after which counting of votes would start on the same polling booth, he said.

Punjab government has declared holiday tomorrow in various offices besides educational institutions.

Over 15,000 police personnel have been deployed for maintaining law and order situation during polls, Brar said.

As many as 163 polling booths have been declared hyper sensitive whereas 940 polling booths have been put in sensitive category, Brar said adding State Election Commission, district and local administration have completed all the arrangements.

He said that in this election 16,717 employees (apart from reserved force) have been deployed on the election duty.

Meanwhile, keeping in view the sensitivity of situation, the Punjab Election Commission has appointed two senior IPS officers from Punjab Police Headquarter, Chandigarh, as Police Observers in Tarn Taran and Ferozpur.

Nilabh Kishore, DIG/Crime has been appointed the Police Observer for the Tarn Taran and Shiv Kumar Verma, DIG/Admn has been appointed Police Observer for the Ferozepur, an official spokesperson said.

These police officers have been instructed to immediately leave for their place of duty, he said.

The local body polls, which are being seen as an acid test for the SAD-BJP regime in the state, will see a direct fight between SAD and BJP candidates at some of the wards in Tarn Taran, Batala and Sanaur.

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