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With the Gujarat High Court declaring as unconstitutional the postponement of local civic body election process two days ago, the State Election Commission, on Friday, announced to a two-phase poll schedule for 323 local self-government bodies in the state.
In the wake of the ongoing Patidar agitation, for reservation in government jobs and admission to educational institutions, the State government had recently postponed local body polls on the grounds of “law and order” issue.
The first phase of polling will be held in six out of eight city municipal corporations in Gujarat on November 22. Number of votes polled in this phase will be counted on November 26, State Election Commissioner Varesh Sinha informed reporters here.
The second phase of polling will take place on November 29 and counting of votes will be held on December 2. In this phase, 230 taluka (tehsil) panchayats, 56 nagarpalikas (municipalities) and 31 district panchayats will go to the polls.
Elections will be held for the municipal corporations of Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar, all of which are currently under control of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP also controls the two newly-formed municipal corporations of Gandhinagar and Junagadh. However, Gandhinagar civic body polls with be held next year while Junagadh still has four years before its term expires.
The model code of conduct has come into force immediately with the announcement of poll dates. The filing of nominations will begin on November 1.
At present, the BJP rules in 150 taluka panchayats, 42 municipalities, and 30 district panchayats, excluding that of Tapi in South Gujarat, which is with the Congress.
The Gujarat High Court had, on October 20, directed the State Election Commission to start the electoral exercise forthwith, rejecting an ordinance seeking to postpone the elections citing law and order concerns in the wake of the pro-reservation agitation by Hardik Patel-led Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS).
The court had, apparently, vetoed the State government’s attempt to appoint administrators on the local bodies by putting off the elections and observed that there was no such legal provision. The high court had also wondered why elections could not be held to local bodies, when polling could be successfully conducted even in a strife-torn state like Jammu and Kashmir.
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