The Punjab State Election Commission said it has established 4,102 polling stations for the Punjab civic body polls, of which 1,708 have been declared sensitive and 861 hypersensitive.
Representative image. Reuters
Voting for eight municipal corporations and 109 municipal councils and nagar panchayats in Punjab will take place today (Sunday, February 14) from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., the state electoral commission said, stating that all arrangements are in place for the elections. elections of the civic body. .
The eight municipal corporations where the vote will take place on February 14 include Abohar, Bathinda, Batala, Kapurthala, Mohali, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot and Moga. In addition to this, a total of 109 municipal councils and nagar panchayats will also be held.
The official spokesman for the Punjab State Election Commission said it has established 4,102 polling stations. Of these, 1,708 have been declared sensitive and 861 hypersensitive.
According to PTI, a total of 9,222 candidates are in the fray for 2,302 districts in the Punjab civic body polls. In these elections, 50 percent of the seats have been reserved for women.
Time and date of the vote, counting
According to the state electoral commission, voting in the 2,302 rooms will take place from 8 am to 4 pm.
The official spokesperson for the Punjab State Election Commission said PTI that every voter who enters the polling station before 4 pm will have the right to vote.
There are 20,49,777 male voters, 18,65,354 women and 149 transgender, for a total of 39,15,280 registered voters in the state of Punjab for civic elections.
The vote count will take place on February 17.
The State Elections Commission has also announced February 14 and 17 as dry days.
7,000 EVMS, 19,000 police deployed
Around 7,000 electronic voting machines (EVMs) have been deployed to vote. A total of 25,010 employees have also been delegated.
About 19,000 police officers have been assigned to hold free and fair elections, the spokesman said.
A total of 30 IAS or PCS officials have been designated as observers to hold free and fair elections, the spokesperson said.
SAD, BJP goes solo
All major political parties had vigorously polled during the campaign for civic body elections in the state that will see the Assembly elections next year.
Of the total number of candidates, 2,832 are running as independents and 2,037 are from the ruling Congress. Several Punjab ministers, including Manpreet Singh Badal and Balbir Singh Sidhu, had applied for the congressional nominees.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are fighting these elections separately after the former left the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over the issue of farm laws last year.
SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and other party leaders campaigned for their party’s candidates. The party has presented 1,569 candidates in the civic body’s polls.
The BJP, which faces great tension over the new bills, has put up 1,003 candidates.
BJP leaders and candidates had faced farmers’ protest during a campaign with the saffron party accusing Congress of unleashing vandalism disguised as farmers.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the BSP have presented 1,606 and 160 candidates, respectively.
Several high-ranking AAP leaders, including Raghav Chadha, had toured various parts of the state and sought votes for the nominees of the main opposition party in Punjab.
The Opposition had accused Congress of misusing the government machinery to win these elections, an accusation denied by the ruling party.
With PTI inputs
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