Bangalore: Elections for local bodies to be held on March 7

Daijiworld Media Network – Bangalore (DV)

Bangalore, Feb 15: State election commissioner C R Chikamatt has announced that the election for local bodies across the state will be held on March 7.

"According to the notice, all local body elections will held on March 7 in seven of the city corporations which are Davangere, Bellary, Gulbarga, Mysore, Mangalore, Belgaum and Hubli-Dharwad; 43 city municipal councils, 65 town municipal council, 93 town panchayats and a total of 208 city local bodies. The Supreme Court has sent an order to hold the elections in accordance with the Constitution," said CR Chikamatt.

He also added that the election code of conduct will be implemented from the morning of February 15. On February 16, all deputy commissioners of particular districts will issue the notice; and February 23 will be the last date to submit nominations. On February 25 the nomination verification will be conducted, and on March 7 at 7 am till 5 pm the election will be held and in required venues on March 9 re-elections will be held. On March 11 from 8 am, the counting will be held in taluks.

The elections will be conducted with electronic ballot machines. "The state election commission possesses 40,000 electronic voting machines. BELN experts have examined these electronic ballot machines. In 4,976 wards, 10,842 polling booths, 8,532,931 voters will cast their rights," he said.

Mangalore City Corporation will also conduct its elections on March 7 for 60 wards. This time, women will get a  50% reservation in elections. A special committee will be formed headed by the deputy commissioner, with the police commissioner the superintendent of police as members. Altogether, 3,12,579 voters will be casting their votes.