Round one of Mah local bodies polls on Nov 19

Mumbai, Nov 16 (UNI) More than 16,000 candidates are in the fray for the elections to be held in 167 Municipal Councils and two Nagar Panchayats in different parts of Maharashtra on November 19.

A total of 54,91,582 voters will exercise their franchise in the elections, described as the first round of the 'mini-assembly' elections. The elections to 27 Zilla Parishads and 308 Panchayat Samitis as well as 14 Municipal Corporations will be held between January-February 2007.

There are 28,28,251 male voters and 26,63,331 women and the total number of polling booths is 5,904. They will cast their votes through the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

The total number of wards in 167 Municipal Councils and two Nagar Panchayats is 3,857.

As many as 27 per cent of the seats are reserved for SC/ST/OBCs.

There are 413 wards reserved for Scheduled Castes out of which 174 are for women, 120 wards for scheduled tribes, out of which 47 are for women. There are 1,066 wards for OBCs (385 for women). In the general category,there are 2,253 wards in which 731 women are contesting.

As many as 2,532 candidates are contesting on Congress symbol, 2233 on the NCP's ticket, 1,409 from Shiv Sena and 1,295 candidates of the BJP. There are 6,912 independents and 1,680 candidates from local Agadhis (fronts).

The polling will take place from 0730 hrs to 1730 hrs on November 19 and the counting of votes will take place from November 20 at 0900 hrs.

Meanwhile, the State Election Commission said that in Ashtha (Sangli district) and Panhala (Kolhapur district) Municipal Councils, candidates in all the 19 and 17 wards, respectively, were elected unopposed.

Similarly, 13 candidates in Dudni Municipal Council in Solapur district were elected unopposed. In Virar, 16 candidates were elected unopposed, in Vasai (five), Maindargi (Solapur District) seven candidates were elected unopposed and in Shirpur (Dhule district) four candidates were elected unopposed.

UNI MR MJ VD BD1648