167 municipal councils, 2 nagar panchayats go to polls tomorrow

Mumbai, Nov 18 (UNI) More than 54 lakh voters from across the state are elgible to exercise their franchise tomorrow to elect 3,733 councillors from 167 municipal councils and two nagar panchayats.

There are 16,317 candidates in the fray.

Dubbed as a ''mini assembly election'', the polls are expected to subject all the four major parties -- the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, the BJP and the Shiv Sena, to an acid test.

The Shiv Sena and the BJP have worked out an alliance in 122 municipal councils, but the Congres-NCP alliance could not progress beyond 18. The NCP is contesting 105 councils on its own. At various places, local fronts have been formed, casting aside the party identity.

Official sources informed that 124 councillors have already been elected unopposed.

There are a total of 54,91,582 voters out of which 28,28,251 are males and 26,63,331 females. There will be 5,904 polling booths and 8,500 electronic voting machines will be employed -- EVMs are being used for the first time in local bodies elections. The counting of votes will be held on November 20.

Meanwhile, the State Election Commission has issued orders banning mobile phones, radios, and pagers within 100 meters of the polling booths as well as the counting centres.

Sources said that on an experimental basis, voters in Konkan, Nasik and Aurangabad divisions will be photographed.

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