Mah Zilla Parishad, Panchayat Samiti polls on March 11

Mumbai, Feb 10 (UNI) The Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) today announced that polls to 27 Zilla Parishads and 310 Panchayat Samitis in the State will be held on March 11.

The code of conduct comes into effect from today.

The SEC ordered the district collectors to complete the process of reservations on rotation by February 13 and that the draw be taken out on February 14.

The process of filing of nominations will begin on February 20 and continue till February 24. The scrutiny of papers will be done on February 26. The last date of withdrawal is March two and the final list of contesting candidates will be published subsequently.

The counting of votes will take place on March 12 and the list of elected candidates will be published on March 13.

The elections to be held in two phases on February 11 and 14 were postponed due to the directives of the Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court that said the rotation system for SC/ST reservations as per the population ratio be followed.

The Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court yesterday directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to complete the ZP and Panchayat Samitis election process before the expiry of the term of local self-governments-panchayat samitis and zilla parishads, on March 13 and March 20 respectively.

The bench, comprising Justice N H Patil and Justice R M Borde, directed the election commission to follow the reservation by rotation system in these elections.

Earlier on January 17, Supreme Court dismissed the SEC's Special Leave Petition (SLP) regarding the ZP elections. The SEC had approached the Supreme Court against the Aurangabad bench HC orders to follow the reservation by rotation system.

UNI