Periscope: Poll fever in Maharashtra

The 2nd phase of the ongoing zilla parishad & panchayat samiti polls will be held on Tuesday

The second phase of the ongoing zilla parishad and panchayat samiti polls in Maharashtra will be held on Tuesday. The first phase was on last Thursday. Counting will take place simultaneously this Thursday and the results are likely to be declared the same day. 

The election to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Asia’s biggest and India’s richest civic body, the neighbouring municipal corporations of Thane and Ulhasnagar, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nashik, Solapur, Akola, Amravati and Nagpur are also scheduled for Tuesday. Nearly 100 million voters will have exercised their franchise in a two-phased poll to 10 municipal corporations, 26 zilla parishads and 283 panchayat samitis across the state.

The much anticipated, high-stakes elections will have covered 25 of the state's 36 districts, with participation of nearly 85 per cent of the electorate spread across 246 of the 288 Assembly segments. Elections in Nagpur have been kept in abeyance because of a stay by the high court.

Coming in the wake of the November 8 demonetisation, the elections are being cited as a virtual referendum on the decision to spike the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, and on the performance of the state government led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, which has completed a little over two years in office.

The elections on Tuesday extend to zilla parishads of Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Pune, Solapur, Nashik, Amravati and parts of Gadchiroli, including the 188 panchayats in their jurisdiction.

Fourth phase of elections in UP

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra with her brother, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, at an election rally in Raebareli, UP. Photo: PTI

Raebareli and adjoining areas will be part of the fourth phase of Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, scheduled for Thursday. As many as 53 constituencies in 12 districts will go to the polls. Raebareli is the parliamentary constituency of Congress President Sonia Gandhi. 

Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Allahabad, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Mahoba, Banda, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot and Fatehpur are the districts going to polls in the fourth phase.

The outcome from the Sultanpur parliamentary constituency is going to be watched. The constituency is represented by Varun Gandhi, a two-time MP. Gandhi appears to have been missing from the campaign so far.