163 candidates elected unopposed in civic bodies polls in Pb

A total of 163 candidates, mostly of the ruling SAD-BJP alliance, have been elected unopposed in the elections to the urban local bodies in the state.
Elections to the six municipal corporations and 122 municipal council and nagar panchayats in Punjab are to be held on February 22 and 25.
Three out of total of 1,269 candidates for the municipal corporations and 160 of the total of 7,006 for the municipal councils and nagar panchayats, were elected unopposed, State Election Commissioner S S Brar today said.
Though Aam Aadmi Party had won four Lok Sabha seats from Punjab in its maiden foray in parliamentary polls, the Arvind Kejriwal-led outfit is not contesting the civic body polls.

The six municipal corporations are Bathinda, Hoshiarpur, Moga, Mohali, Pathankot and Phagwara. 300 wards.
At present Bathinda, Hoshiarpur, Moga and Phagwara are held by SAD-BJP alliance candidates while Mohali and Pathankot are held by Congress.

Brar said that preparations have been completed for conducting a "fair and impartial" polls.
He said that the state election office had so far received 100 complaints by different candidates. "The complaints are of not serious nature...These include official interference in the election process, name deletion from voters list and police interference," he said.
He said that the election expenditure per candidate is fixed between the range of Rs 2.7 lakh to Rs 1.85 lakh.

On the occasion ADGP (Elections) C S R Reddy said that some 12,000 police personnel will be deployed to ensure smooth conduct of polling.
While total polling stations for corporations are 309, the number of polling stations for councils and nagar panchayats is 1,486.
There are 43 hyper-sensitive polling stations for the six corporations as against 163 such stations for the councils and nagar panchayats, he said.
Brar said that polling hours would be from 8 am to 4 pm and the results will be declared on February 26.
He said a total 3,600 EVMs will be used for the polling process and 66 observers have been deployed in the state.

On 15 candidates being elected unopposed in Guru Harshai Nagar Council amid Congress' claim that their candidates were not allowed to file nomination papers, Brar said that "it is under investigation whether the election should be held or not."
He said a total of 10,400 arms had been deployed ahead of the polls.
The key players in the field are ruling SAD-BJP alliance candidates, opposition Congress and contestants of Peoples Party of Punjab (PPP).
Brar said out of the total candidates, some 2500 are women while there is one transgender contesting from Fatehgarh Sahib.